English Church Music, Volume 2: Canticles and Responses

This 'Evensong' volume is a tremendous publication: carefully chosen, authoritatively presented, and extremely good value for money . . . Everyone with any interest in this repertoire will have their own ideas about questionable inclusons and regrettable omissions but the selection is solid . . . This anthology is excellent, and its attention to detail is gratifying . . . This is a magnificent volume. Durability of anthologies is a perennial cause for concern, but my copy of European Sacred Music is still in good nick after 15 years of heavy use; English Church Music vol. 2 should prove similarly imperishable. * Jeremy Summerly, Choir & Organ March 2012 *
But those who do buy it will greatly benefit, as there are insights throughout, from the beginning (Blair's B minor service in its original form rather than Atkins' rewriting as normally sung) to the final Preces and Responses (Stone and Tomkins, both with new reconstructions of their missing parts). * Church Music Quarterly, June 2012 *
This is quite a bold move in the series. English and Latin church music is often sung in concert as well as in church, but it is rare for Anglican services to be sung thus. I'm not very sure why, since a morning or evening service is shorter than a mass and enables programmes to be more flexible . . . I hope that this sells well to collegiate and cathedral choirs, and other emulate them. As always with the series, the layout is excellent, the biographical and editorial comments are the right level, and I trust John Rutter's proof-reading to make it unnecessary to do spot checks. * Clifford Bartlett, Early Music Review *
Beide Bände sind als Grundausstattung und zur Einführung in die anglikanische Chormusik hevorragend geeignet. [Both volumes offer an excellent overview of and introduction to Anglican choral music.] * Dominik Axtmann, Musik und Kirche, January 14 *