It is always good to hear new ensembles, and particularly good to hear overseas-based ensembles tackling English music. There is no direct information about the musicians here, though judging from their names both groups may be based in Belgium. The six-voice William Byrd Ensemble has two ladies with creamy but clear tone, two tenors with moments of heroic colour and two lower voices that show admirably focused pitch; the six viols of The Occasional Byrd, led by Luis-Emilio Rodriguez, have a sweet sound and good balance. The entire enterprise is directed by Graham O'Reilly (who is also one of the tenors), though where Andrew Lawrence-King is playing the accompaniment the tempos appear generally steadier and better judged.
The best here is in the two purely instrumental pieces: Andrew Lawrence-King playing The Lord of Salisbury Pavane on a triple harp with truly magical refinement; and the viol ensemble playing the grand and bizarre five-part In Nomine with unfettered enthusiasm. If the anthems with organ—O God, the King of Glory and If ye be risen—go with a nicely poetic lilt, it must be said that there are unevennesses that make the voices less attractive than others that have recently tackled the same repertory. Along with that there is a certain lumpiness in the lines and the declamation—features that do more damage to Gibbons than to most composers.
Which is to say that although these are evidently fine and skilled musicians they may be better deployed in something less delicate than Gibbons. The sound of the fine chamber organ by Bernard Aubertin is well caught, though the varied acoustics of the church of Choiseul, Yvelines in France, occasionally seem a little muddy.'