By any other name, John Browne would surely be recognised as one of the very greatest English composers. The fact that fewer than 10 works survive intact in the Eton Choirbook (practically the only source transmitting his music anyway) only adds to his mysterious aura; the music sends normally dispassionate specialists reaching for superlatives. To my mind, Browne stands head and shoulders above the other Eton composers and it was high time that he was accorded an anthology of his own. The discography of early polyphonies has made such great strides that ‘landmark’ recordings are fewer and further between, and yet this can hardly be described as anything else.

An index of Browne’s stature is the variety of scorings he deploys. His eight-voice O Maria Salvatoris mater was considered extraordinary enough to be given pride of place in the Eton Choirbook, and each of the three six-voice pieces included here is scored differently. No other Eton composer wrote so much six-voice music excluding trebles; the fact that two of Browne’s pieces in this mould (Stabat iuxta Christi crucem and O regina mundi) are here recorded convincingly for the first time is one of the disc’s principal attractions. Phillips’s line-up of men’s voices (especially on the top lines) is as superb as Browne’s must have been, for an exceptional keenness of focus is needed to prevent the thick texture from becoming stodgy; as it is, the sound of six parts jostling in a compass of under two octaves is thrilling.

But the pieces with trebles have long been reckoned Browne’s masterpieces; as such, they have been recorded several times before. Phillips sees Browne as a mystical figure, and his choice of tempi in the Stabat mater and O Maria reflects this. It is not a viewpoint that I quite share (the music’s rhythmic intricacy seems to me more dynamic and physical), but his singers articulate it so convincingly as to suspend disbelief absolutely. I still remember with pleasure the Taverner Consort’s recording of these last two pieces on EMI Reflexe 15 years ago (with many of these singers, but alas nla), and would prefer Parrott’s O Maria above Phillips, but the recorded sound here has a touch more presence and, in the detail, Phillips’s Stabat mater is masterly (even with a distracting high pitch at the opening fermata of the Salve regina). I have long held that The Tallis Scholars are to be heard at their best in this repertory (remember their recording of William Cornysh?); this recording confirms that. More Eton music from them would be wonderful, and let’s have the rest of Browne’s output while we’re at it (my only gripe here is that all these pieces have been recorded previously). Meanwhile, this is bound to be my end-of-year choice for the disc I’d give as a gift: if you don’t know Browne’s music, you simply must hear this.