This is good news indeed. Having concluded their series of Byrd’s Latin sacred music on ASV and Hyperion, The Cardinall’s Musick are turning their attention to his output in English. As before, rather than issuing the discs volume by published volume, they are dotting about. The non-liturgical pieces come from Psalmes, Songs and Sonnets (1611), apart from Unto the hills, which appeared in Songs of Sundrie Natures (1589). The Great Service was not published in Byrd’s lifetime.

But here’s a funny thing. The psalms were written for domestic consumption, probably one to a part, with or without viols. The ladies of the household would – or at least could – have participated; but the top lines here are taken by male altos. Contrariwise, The Great Service, composed for an all-male choir, is sung by mixed voices, of course, but still with only one voice to each part.

As a result, there’s a slight sense of strain in Praise our Lord, sung at pitch, with the altos prominent and the bass-line, as recorded, sounding weak. The other psalms, transposed down by a tone or semitone, come off better: Andrew Carwood is particularly good at lightening the mood when Byrd adopts triple time to illustrate words such as ‘gladness’ or ‘jollity’; and the pre-jolly passages of the heartfelt Turn our captivity are especially moving.

The Great Service, interestingly transposed up by a minor third, really needs a larger body of singers for the contrast between ‘verse’ and ‘full’ sections to be effective. In the Magnificat the proud aren’t scattered vigorously enough for my taste, although there’s plenty of bounce in the following phrase. Don’t be put off by my reservations: the performances overall are excellent and the disc is a fine continuation of the group’s Byrd Edition.