Reviews

There is no room here for error, but, fortunately, we never hear one. The singers all exhibit an amazing sense of control; in lesser hands, or lungs, these works would run out of steam halfway through, but the breath, tone, and phrasing are superb.

The opening syllable is . . . a collective wail of grief that . . . invites, even demands, the listener to participate. The closely miked ambience, the sparse use of vibrato, and the [full texting] . . . draw the listener further into this intimately personal space.

Radically different . . . [Cut Circle] challenges the predominant sonic aesthetic.

It is to the great credit of Cut Circle that they take this accumulation of strong feelings very seriously . . . with great individual, expressive, sometimes idiosyncratic expression, [giving] each individual song its own color and shape. With its flexible vocal technique, the ensemble more than does justice to the vocal–technical brilliance and emotional depth of the music.

This is pathbreaking. Sung with beautiful balance and intonation . . . the tempos are perfectly judged . . . sets new standards for the recording of such music and will be a model for many more to come.

Don’t pass up this monument of the early Renaissance. It is a highlight of the year.