No collector of Spanish cathedral music of the Golden Age can afford to be without any one of Westminster Cathedral Choir's marvellous (and continuing) series of masses by Victoria. This particular issue may not be the strongest of the set, but it's still a highly desirable purchase, admirable as always for the uniquely sustained and expressive quality of singing, especially by the boys. Some would say that the compact Mass based on O magnum mysterium has more to offer than the sharply contrasted Ascendens Christus, in which the jubilant tone and thrilling textures of Victoria's own five-part motet transfer rather less successfully to a setting of the words of the Ordinary. But both works seriously demand a hearing; and the performances, which combine delicacy with true power, are never less than compelling.'