‘Beautifully executed … highly recommended’ (Fanfare, USA)

‘Martin Baker's choir of men and boys show why this is one of the finest choirs around, with impeccable intonation and strength to convey the full majesty of Palestrina's sublime compositions. The men show how versatile they are, interweaving in and out of the aprts, adding to the elegant and polished phrases. This choir is the leading Catholic ensemble in the world and this disc proves it. Quite simply this is glorious music sung by a magnificent choir. There's not much more I can write, except 'most definitely recommended’ (Cathedral Music)

‘So highly charged is the grief-stricken atmosphere of these sets of Lamentations for Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday that it may be best to listen to them one at a time. This will also allow Palestrina's restrained response to these harrowing texts, which evokes the vision of a devastated landscape and its persecuted people, to make its deepest impression. Flowing polyphony for the introductory Hebrew letters and 'Jerusalem convertere' refrains gives way to a bleaker, largely chordal style for the Lamentation verses. Palestrina avoids graphic wordpainting, creates his effects with carefully placed dissonances, and varied voice-groupings. But it is Westminster Cathedral Choir's beautifully judged dynamics, from hushed horror to violent bitterness as Jerusalem's foes gloat over her destruction, that stand out with searing intensity’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘A pleasing stability of tone … the overall effect … is reverential, moving and warmly recorded’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Everything about this disc, from the captivating sound to the sleeve notes, is of the highest quality. A must for choral fans’ (Classic FM Magazine)

‘Among the many other things for which the independent record company Hyperion deserves our gratitude is its long-standing engagement of Westminster Cathedral Choir, England's finest Catholic choir, to record the masterpieces of sacred polyphony … Palestrina's third of his four settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah is marked by sinuous vocal lines, harmonic richness, unpredictable modality and telling passages of homophonic writing … Martin Baker rightly emphasises the classical perfection of Palestrina's polyphony … as usual, Hyperion's engineers have worked miracles with the difficult acoustics of Westminster Cathedral. Jon Dixon contributes a first-rate booklet essay, which helpfully situates the performance of Lamentations within the complex rituals of Holy Week celebrations’ (International Record Review)

‘The quality of the works is such that their neglect in the discography is puzzling … the Brabants seem very much at home here’ (Gramophone)

‘The singers enliven the texture with their nuanced renderings of the marvellous contrapuntal connections, and the recording makes the most of the double-choir effects in the final section’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Eastertide offertories, antiphons and motets from the master of Renaissance counterpoint. The spirited Surrexit pastor bonus, its accompanying antiphon Regina caeli and the gradual Haec dies are sung with a full-voiced, beefy intensity that lifts the music away from mere polite polyphony and gives it a really exciting energy’ (The Observer)

‘Highly recommended along with previous releases in this series’ (Fanfare, USA)

‘A perfect introduction to the breadth of Palestrina's genius, inspiringly sung’ (Organists' Review)

‘Palestrina continues to be well served by The Tallis Scholars … the business-like Missa brevis is captured in such a way that every detail is carefully reproduced, there's a breadth, distance and slight blurring to Missa Nasce la gioja mia that adds to the magic and the mystery. This is one of the best records of Palestrina currently on the market’ (Gramophone)