"The results on this disc are stunning." Gramophone "Phantasm's playing is impeccable." BBC Music Magazine "A sheer delight." International Record Review o This new recording is the only complete collection of William Byrd's consort music and includes new hymn settings that are premiere recordings. o William Byrd was the most celebrated lizabethan composer of Renaissance consort music, English song, masses, Latin motets and keyboard works who studied under Thomas Tallis. o Byrd's viol music is polyphonic and full of melancholy. The performances on this recording brings out the rich, overlapping textures of the compositions creating a mesmerising sound. o 'William Byrd Complete Consort Music' is Phantasm's second album with Linn; their first, 'John Ward: Consort music for five and six viols', was a Finalist in the 2010 Gramophone Awards. o Inspired by the great twentieth-century string quartets, Phantasm enjoys taking risks in its search for renditions that renew the expressive traditions of early music. o Critics have called their performances and recordings: 'intoxicating', 'revelatory', 'electrifying', 'interpretations pervaded by a truly burning spirit'. o Their recordings have won two Gramophone Awards in addition to numerous other international nominations and citations and are recognised as the most exciting viol consort active on the world scene today. o Director Laurence Dreyfuss is one of the world's most eminent Musicologists who has made the study of 16th and 17th century instrumental music his life's work. He brings this vast knowledge and immense passion into Phantasm and its recordings. o Phantasm has been made 'Ensemble in Residence' at Magdalen College, Oxford, which will enable them to put on far more concerts in the UK and abroad over the upcoming months and years.

Since her European stage debut in the year 2000, South Korean soprano Sunhae Im has proven her artistic versatility in a multitude of international productions. Her agile voice was particularly convincing in the stage works of Handel and Vivaldi. The present album with the bFIVE Recorder Consort shows that she can do more than just voice acrobatics and baroque opera. Together they play William Byrd’s songs with subtle and elevating authenticity. Sunhae Im Ms. Im has internationally been invited to renowned festivals such as the Edinburgh International Festival, Mostly Mozart Festival, Salzburg Festival, or Haydn International Festival and has worked with the New York Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, or the Munich Philharmonic. Her repertoire includes works by Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Gluck, Rameau, Charpentier, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert, Mahler, and Mendelssohn.