‘This disc offers sacred works from two of his collections: Cantiones Sacrae (1591) and the 1605 Gradualia. The latter includes the complete Propers for Lady Mass in Easter Tide as well as a gorgeous Regina caeli setting. The Cardinall's Musick perform with powerful energy and a creamy vocal blend. Highly recommended’ (CD Hotlist, USA)

‘Sit back and enjoy the gleaming passionate tones of the Cardinall's Musick as they take you on a tour of some of the choral finest music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries’ (Early Music Forum of Scotland News, Scotland)

‘The grasp that Andrew Carwood and his Cardinall's Musick group have on Byrd's scores now seems unassailable; the fluidity and elevated level of internal detail in the opening 'Laudibus in sanctis' sets out their stall for the rest of this thoughtfully conceived album’ (Choir & Organ)

‘This is the tenth disc in the ensemble's complete recordings of Byrd, but the first in the series with Hyperion … [the] engineering gains and the artists' freshness and conviction make this recording a high-water mark in the project. Carwood has captured the passion, delicacy and complexity of England's greatest Renaissance composer’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘The 12 voices sing out, individuality intact and ideal for airing the awesome polyphony of Byrd's Latin motets, both fervent and meditative’ (The Times)

‘If, according to Burney, the Mannheim orchestra of 1772 was 'an army of Generals', the Cardinall's Musick of 2006 is surely 'an exaltation of larks' … performances of exquisite perfection’ (International Record Review)

‘The singing is neat, clear and fluid, with beautifully elastic phrasing from the two tenors. The Nunc dimittis provides the sweetest moments in the Great Service itself’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘The 10 voices of the Cardinall's Musick launch into the opening of Byrd's The Great Service—'O come, let us sing unto the Lord'—with a soaring joyfulness and clarity that sustains throughout this large-scale and elaborate work. Andrew Carwood and his group have won countless accolades for their series of Byrd's Latin sacred music. In this Anglican work, they achieve the same outstanding level of musicianship. The (female) sopranos have strength and purity at the top but an effective lightness, too, closer to the sound of boy trebles. The full ensemble tone is bold and energetic’ (The Observer)

‘This new recording is something special. Whether it's because of the sheer experience of having sung so much of Byrd's music as to have assimilated his musical language utterly, or whether it's simply the raw musicianship and cultivated intelligence of the performers, there's a clarity and intensity in each verse that is spine-tingling … here, as elsewhere, the latent energy of the words as made manifest in Byrd's setting is realized with the kind of skill and conviction that moves rather than simply amazes. Which is, I guess, the point of religious music’ (International Record Review)

‘This is a fine start of a new series’ (Fanfare, USA)

‘This is one of Britain's best liturgical choirs’ (Early Music)

‘A very polished and confident performance. Quinney gives equally fluent renditions of the Voluntary and 'Fancie for My Lady Nevell', completing a disc that fulfils its brief with distinction’ (Gramophone)