The odd juxtaposition of Byrd’s very finest chamber music with pieces by Richard Mico may seem rather like pairing late Beethoven with Vanhal; but it works extremely well here. Though Mico has been little regarded, much of his music shows absolute mastery (his Pavan No. 4 is in some ways one of the most perfect and beautiful examples of the simple eight-bar pavane); it was eminently worth devoting half a disc to this obscure but lovely composer and bringing it to the public by associating it with Byrd. The Mico selection includes two pieces that are by no means certainly his (Fancies Nos. 18 and 19); but they are still glorious pieces and all the more welcome for that. The Mico works are intriguingly organized into little ‘sets’ according to their key-centres. Phantasm play this music with immaculate control and balance, finding many telling details that might elude less careful musicians.
Some listeners may be a touch less happy with the Byrd, feeling that the honeyed sounds cover certain details, that the speed of Browning loses the work’s harmonic and contrapuntal magic, that the myriad changes in the grand six-voice fantasias could benefit from greater lightness of touch. But that would be like saying that only the English can perform Elgar idiomatically. What Phantasm bring to this music is a clear and unusual view of the music. Moreover, they present what is absolutely the best of Byrd’s consort work, omitting the troublesome first In Nomine and the less perfect first six-part Fantasia. The four Fantasias and the four In Nomines on this disc are the core of Byrd’s claim to stand among the world’s greatest composers of chamber music. The performances convincingly support that claim.'