This CD of William Byrd's divine sacred music was recorded live in a concert that earned both popular and critical acclaim. ClevelandClassical.com praised Quire Cleveland's "robust, chiseled sound ... crisp diction" and declared "Blend and balance were impeccable." PROGRAM NOTES by KERRY McCARTHY, biographer of William Byrd William Byrd loved the sound of the human voice. He wrote in 1588 that “there is not any Musicke of Instruments whatsoever comparable to that which is made of the voyces of Men, where the voyces are good, and the same well sorted and ordered.” This CD offers a broad selection of Byrd’s vocal music: Latin and English, public and private, melancholy and joyful. We have chosen a title which was given to Byrd during his own lifetime: "England’s Phoenix." The phoenix is the immortal firebird of ancient legend. (Byrd’s contemporaries seem to have enjoyed making avian puns on his name, and he is praised elsewhere as England’s n...