‘This disc of inventive and moving music, performed with great affection, demonstrates very clearly what this English Orpheus Series is designed to show—that English music didn't simply die out, swamped by foreign imports, after the death of Purcell’ (BBC Music Magazine Top 1000 CDs Guide)

‘Recording and presentation are exemplary’ (Gramophone)

‘Highly recommended’ (Organists' Review)

'Christopher Monks, conducting the Armonico Consort, presents a festive selection of classic carols and hymns alongside new commissions and arrangements. The programme is rounded off with a dynamic account of Benjamin Britten's timeless A Ceremony of Carols. Highly recommended' (The Northern Echo)

'Intimate, small-scale performances of mainly familiar titles—including Britten's Ceremony of Carols—by a choir of ten singers. Occasionally more heft is needed' (BBC Music Magazine)

‘The programme is well chosen, with familiar songs alongside some that have been unjustly neglected. Dawson’s performances are wholly intelligent, nicely phrased and display deep musical understanding: her account of Howells’s King David is particularly mesmerizing. She is most fortunate to have Malcolm Martineau as her accompanist: he is one of the finest currently before the public, and they are rewarded with an excellent, beautifully balanced recording … this recital will give much pleasure’ (International Record Review)

‘The really marvellous thing about the singing is that it captures a bubbly, warm, human individuality – a kind of vocal English rose’ (Manchester Evening News)

‘What a treat it is to hear [Dawson] singing English so expressively … Nothing is lovelier than her haunting unaccompanied singing of Vaughan Williams’ (The Sunday Times)

‘A rare and rich recital … the real joy of this recital is to hear Dawson's soprano thrilling to the expressive flexibility of her own language, particularly where the glorification of the voice is fused with linguistic excitement’ (The Times)

‘A top British soprano shines in a recital that should appeal well beyond her shores. The programme is delightful, and so are the performances’ (Gramophone)

‘Taken with the unusual repertory and Lynne Dawson’s unusually fine singing, this becomes an easily recommended introduction to the world of English song’ (American Record Guide)

‘The most delectable recital of English song … a generous sequence of brief, tuneful songs that are totally charming, from Armida's Garden by Parry to Ivor Gurney's rapt setting of John Fletcher’ (The Guardian)