This is one of those records, familiar to all reviewers, which has so many points in its favour that one doesn't want to be uncomplimentary, as I suspect RG also found when reviewing the LP, and I entirely agree with his comments. He appreciated the solo singing, the chorus and the orchestra but felt compelled to add of the conducting of the Mass, ''it often tends to be too gentle in spirited movements''; and about the Vesperae, ''again one is conscious of a lack of vigour and drive in the performance''. I must add that though the feeling of warmth and devotion to which he also referred may have been acceptable on LP, when it comes to the performance on CD, where clarity is an asset to be expected, I find the sort of sound better described as rather smudgy and somewhat on the dim side.
Davis on his Philips record of the Vesperae has a more varied programme of smaller works, some more familiar and others less so—the setting of Exsultate jubilate, Ave verum corpus and the moving and deeply felt Kyrie in D minor, K341, in which the sleeve-note rightly refers to its ''solemn splendour''. He also has Dame Kiri Te Kanawa! The performances are splendid (no need to equivocate here) with their drive, when drive is needed, and their emotion when that is called for; also, the kind of clarity one expects on Compact Disc.'