The Great Service (1991)

"Thomas Tomkins (1572–1656), who died thirteen years after Monteverdi, was an early example of that well-known phenomenon which has characterized the careers of some of the greatest British composers. They all made a significant contribution to the music of their time, but did so in a style which, when they came to take it up, had been thoroughly explored and discarded elsewhere in Europe. In fact, a glance at Tomkins’ date of birth will show that he was of the same generation as Thomas Weelkes (c.1576–1623) and Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625), a generation which produced an astonishing number of talented composers, all of whom adhered to the principles of Renaissance polyphonic composition. Many of them, including Tomkins, were pupils of William Byrd (1543–1623); most of them, again like Tomkins, wrote sacred music only to English texts, for the new Anglican church. (...) Tomkins’ Third or Great Service is arguably the ‘greatest’ of the handful of polyphonic Great Services. (...)" (hyperion-records.co.uk)

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