Perhaps the most striking feature of this recording from the Choir of St Mary's Cathedral Edinburgh is the way in which the trebles seem perfectly integrated within the ensemble...The rest of the choir is equally well matched and solid, and the whole is recorded with admirable presence and clarity.

[Sheppard] is no mean composer. Here are beautifully shaped performances of the great Missa Cantate, the serenely luxuriant Libera nos, salva nos I and other works with rich and perpetually active textures.

these pieces show [Sheppard] to be fully the equal of Byrd, Tallis and Taverner. With its ecstatic, keening trebles layered over a densely woven bed of lower-register voices, 'Libera nos, salva nos I' makes a sublime short opener... 'Reges Tharsis et insulae' exploits the cathedral’s wonderful acoustics to the fullest

His fantastically elaborate Gaude virgo Christiphera suits the delightfully deft voices of St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, as does another revelation: Hodie nobis caelorum rex...with a little choir of trebles and a tenor singing Gloria in Excelsis way off in the distance. Magical.

This revelatory disc offers compelling evidence that [Sheppard] has been grossly underrated... The polyphony is rich, the use of dissonance masterly, and great arches of music compellingly sustained...[the choir] sings with fervour and plangent clarity.