"This disc, recorded at the 19th-century Museum of Water in Lisbon, compares and contrasts three essential Renaissance musical styles. There’s Lassus’s magnificent parody of Gombert’s chanson, the Missa Tous les regretz, a virtuoso work exploring contrasts of texture, pace, idea, mood. There’s Palestrina’s Missa Ut re mi fa sol la, music of affectingly sophisticated purity, based on a simple upward scale. And, between, there’s Thomas Ashewell’s Missa “Ave Maria” – a glorious instance of exuberant late-gothic flowering in which the plainchant underpins otherwise free-flowing fantasy. Van Nevel relishes the different sensualities of each work, and the singing of the Huelgas Ensemble is beautifully blended and sonorous." - Stephen Pettitt, Sunday Times, 13 January 2008

Gramophone Editor’s Choice, March 2008
“The real discovery here, and the work that earns this disc the highest recommendation, is Thomas Ashewell” - Fabrice Fitch, Editor’s Choice, Gramophone

“a performance of breathtaking technical mastery and originality” - Berta Joncus, BBC Music Magazine, January 2008

"The concept is simple: three Renaissance Masses in three styles – Roman, Franco-Flemish and English. But the pleasure is deep and rare, thanks to the superlative art of Paul Van Nevel’s Huelgas Ensemble. We start with the earthy counterpoint of Lassus; then comes the Thomas Ashewell, a master of the decorative. Finally, Palestrina lifts us to paradise with music of grave purity. A ravishing collection." - Geoff Brown, The Times, 18 January 2008