The Evening Service boasts some beautifully controlled singing from the sopranos in particular, their deft tapering of quiet dynamics in the Magnificat heightening the introspective quality of Howells's setting…you could take dictation from the two Psalm settings, so clean is the diction, so revealing Layton's phrasing and punctuation…you'll go a long way to find performances that understand [this] music better, or wear their sensitivity so lightly

This is a stunning recording in so many respects. Attention to dynamic detail, especially the hushed quality of the Magnificat, brings out the ethereal, not to say numinous character of this highly original miniature…the darker, modal hues of the Te Deum and Jubilate benefit from the lavish role of the Coventry Cathedral organ…while moments of more characteristic Anglican prayerfulness are shaped by Layton and the Trinity choir with true, intimate poetry

The excellent singing is full-bodied and lustrous throughout, with just the right sense of momentum. Particular mention for tenor Jamie Roberts for his plangent Nunc dimittis.