This recording is the third and final in a series of three in which the Magdalena Consort, Fretwork and His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts combine forces under the artistic direction of William Hunt. The series began in 2017 with the first recording of Orlando Gibbons' complete 'consort' verse anthems. Following the success of this album, which was named Critic’s Choice for 2017 in Gramophone Magazine, the three ensembles went on to record another album centred around William Byrd, and now finally this third volume exploring the music of Thomas Tomkins, in the context of less familiar names.

The album includes two verse anthems by Tomkins - both highly rhetorical and dramatic, revealing the true soul and purpose of the verse anthem form, that places it arguably amongst the finest artistic products of the English Reformation. Alongside these statuesque works, anthems on a more domestic scale by John Amner and Richard Nicholson and others by composers scarcely known today, whose anthems are being heard for the first time in over 400 years.

The album is available to purchase at Signum Records. This recording project was supported by a grant from Continuo Foundation and other private donors.