Humfrey: A Hymne to God the Father (Wilt thou forgive that sin)

“Christie and his performers bring the perfect balance of intimacy and intensity to this repertoire. Paul Agnew conveys the essence of these songs with poetic expressivity… while the treble-like soprano of Hannah Morrison is the perfect instrument for Purcell's sublime Evening Hymn, which she sings with artless naivety. Divine, indeed.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2007 *****

“If you think of lute songs as secular repertory, think again...Elin Manahan Thomas and lutenist David Miller illuminate this music's subtleties, infusing their reading with warmth and intimacy...this is a lovely contribution to recorded lute song.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2010 ****

“Manahan Thomas has as keen an ear for the music of language as for the language of music while Miller...brings to the table a highly developed understanding of dramatic and musical rhetoric...Throughout, Manahan Thomas fits the sound to the sense...whilst never allowing either diction, intonation or purity of tone to suffer.” International Record Review, December 2010

.. all hail the über choir ….The Independent

“The singing, both solo and corporate is of an high order. Tenors Simon Berridge and Mark Dobell convey the touching melancholy of Humfrey's devotional songs with tender inflexions and a just degree of expressive fervour. Elin Manahan Thomas is comparably sensitive in her heartfelt account of the fourth song. A Hymn to God the Father.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2006 ****

“The Sixteen gravitate primarily towards mournful works. Appropriate to the relatively small dimensions of the Chapel Royal, Harry Christophers adopts an intimate chamber style of single strings and soloists from within the choir. The performances include fine solo contributions, especially Elin Manahan Thomas's exquisite rendering of Humfrey's Hymn to God the Father.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2006

“Listen to the sheer quality of music-making as tenor John Mark Ainsley is alive to every halting breath of a song.” The Times

“wonderfully performed” Barry Millington, Evening Standard

“John Mark Ainsley brings the full range of his formidable musicianship to these hard-wrought but haunting masterpieces. His ringing high register and almost miraculously expressive pianissimo are on fine display and his enunciation is so clear that for most of this disc you barely need the booklet texts.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2005 *****

“John Mark Ainsley and Iain Burnside make a formidable combination and they are matched here with a formidable programme. Tippett's writing for voice and piano is unremitting in its demands and much less certain in its rewards.
The performers' concentration must be absolute: that is fact. Whether the listener will be proportionately moved is a matter for doubtful speculation.
It goes against the grain to say this, because the Tippett of youthful ecstasy (as in The MidsummerMarriage and the Concerto for Double String Orchestra) exerts a strong allure. But there's no escaping the fact that Boyhood's End and The Heart's Assurance exert a slim hold on the memory – only a few specific phrases, particularly of the singer's music, having stuck.
That is extraordinary, and it is reinforced by the inclusion here of the Canticle by Britten which the mind retains, both in feeling and specific detail.
That work, the setting of Francis Quarles's 'So I my best-beloved's am', presumably has been chosen, as the one item in which Tippett is neither composer nor arranger, because it accords with the line 'Remember your lovers', taken as the title-phrase. I'm not sure it was a good idea, as Britten's mastery suggests just what is so often wanting in Tippett: economy and repose.
The other composer present in force is Purcell and here, curiously, Tippett's self-discipline is impressive, even as against Britten's in his comparable arrangements. Burnside writes in his introductory notes: 'While Britten's dense pianistic approach now jars on ears that have undergone the Early Music revolution, Tippett and [Walter] Bergmann stay light on their feet.' The recording is fine with excellent presence.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

"A welcome airing, delightfully performed, of the surprisingly low-profile Purcell" - Gramophone