Rogers Covey-Crump

“The ensemble is flawless and the sound reproduction crystalline.” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2008 ***

“…beautifully blended performances…” Gramophone Magazine, October 2008

‘Singing of an exceptionally high quality’ (Gramophone)

“This is English choral singing of the first rank, enhanced by the yearning strings of our leading viol consort. Breathtaking.” The Independent

'An unfailingly delightful work, beautifully performed and recorded' (Gramophone)

“”Ingenious works and more to the point, very beautiful, particularly when sung with such dedication and feeling as here. This deserves the strongest recommendation to all with an interest in this period” *** Penguin Guide to Compact Discs

“Time hasn't dimmed the brilliant achievement of this unjustly forgotten group, putting instruments aside for searching, ravishing singing, their nine voices beautifully recorded.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2008 ****

‘This is rather special—the best record I have ever reviewed’ (Gramophone)

“Wonderful accounts of amazing music. Hear the exquisitely salty dissonances of 'Latex silice', and for the young John Mark Ainsley singing 'Li nouviauz tanz' with sinuous delicacy.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2008 *****

“This exquisite disc of music for choir, viols and organ does one of our great Tudor composers proud. The choir of Magdalen College, Oxford, has been doing some really wonderful work recently and it is its beautiful soft-grained sound that makes this CD so fascinating, taking us back to the all-too-few Magdalen recordings under the late Bernard Rose.” Daily Mail

“This disc is a benchmark - of interpretation, scholarship and programming. Both its interpretation and its dramatic re-contextualization of Byrd make even the utterly familiar (e.g. 'O Lord make thy servant Elizabeth') startlingly different. Re-contextualization is achieved by having viols replace the organ in liturgical music, and by programming domestic with church composition. That domestic and sacred music-making merged in Byrd's writing is in fact the guiding conviction of this recording. Characteristic of his genius was a facility for combining the beguilingly intimate with the grand. The use of soloists with choir in the verse anthems, the alteration of simple (homophonic) and complex (imitative) writing in the anthems, and the underpinning of soloist with rich counterpoint in psalm settings create a sense of vertigo. Traversing the terrain of the most personal, one suddenly stands on the brink of the monumental. For this reason, using a viol consort - normally the reserve of domestic music-making - to accompany the choir makes perfect sense. Placing domestic sacred song alongside liturgical music highlights how similar was Byrd's approach to both facets of his output. But it is above all the conviction of the performance - its flawless ensemble, radiant boy trebles and sensitivity to implied rhetoric - that carries the argument. Covey-Crump's creamy colour imbues solo passages with a secular feel, as does the confidence of Roberts' delivery. Fretwork has rarely played more passionately or with greater refinement. The conceits of imagination in Byrd's keyboard fantasias prove a wellspring for Leonard's readings. Meticulousness of engineering and research inform all aspects of this disc's production. Here is a recording whose ingenuity approaches that of the composer it celebrates” BBC Music Magazine *****/*****