"Dove’s compact Mass imagines Bach during his period as the Köthen court Kapellmeister, falling asleep during the drone of a church sermon and conjuring a dream Mass from fragments of his own instrumental music. Free of their usual moorings, motifs drift and find new companions. Snatches from the Brandenburgs meet relics from the first book of The Well-Tempered Klavier. Keys are mixed and transposed, phrases reiterated or left unfinished; yet from these shards and distortions Dove still weaves a tapestry that makes perfect musical sense. He also shapes a Mass both witty and reverent […] An enchanting work; I can imagine many more performances."
Geoff Brown, The Times, 23 June 2006
"[…] this is an extremely clever and touching piece.’
Annette Morreau, The Independent, 27 June 2006
"An ingenious fusion of ancient and modern[…] The result, rather thana mere exercise in pastiche, is a typically Dovian and ingenious fusion of old and new […]Dove’s Mass is by no means the first modern work to be written for period-instrument forces, but it’s certainly one of the most imaginative. Recorders, strings and harpsichord give him plenty of colours to play with, and the vocal writing is a well-judged combination of solos and choruses."
Matthew Rye, The Daily Telegraph, 26 June 2006
"The result is playful, elegant and at times extremely witty […] It’s exquisite, in a teasing way.’
Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 24 June 2006
"[...] a sophisticated work, peeled out of the baroque tradition in a moderate contemporary style."
Johannes Killyen, MittelbayerischeZeitung, 3 September 2002
