Jacquet of Mantua has had a rough time over the years. Already in the 1930s the German scholar Hans Huber drew attention to the confusion between him and Jacquet Berchem, a prominent composer of Italian madrigals. And even if the experts are now more or less clear about which pieces are by whom, there remains the question of identifying the individual features of the music by these two prominent composers of the Gombert/Willaert generation.

That explains why the only real challenge to this disc was one issued 10 years ago by The Brabant Ensemble under Stephen Rice (Hyperion, 6/15). Since Jacquet of Mantua seems to have composed over 20 Mass cycles, Rice based his disc on one of these. Now David Skinner, with a student choir sounding less assured than Rice’s hardened professionals, focuses on the motets but includes all three of his known secular works – one each in Italian, Latin and French. Of these, the drinking song Canamus et bibamus is perhaps the most distinctive, though sung here with a certain restraint that seems very much against the spirit of the text. But the prime contribution here is the five-voice Aspice Domine, which counts as one of the most often copied motets of the 16th century, here presented with a verve and sense of flow that give full justice to the work’s fame. Three of the motets are presented with just a solo harp, which seems a slight pity; but then they needed a harpist for the songs and perhaps decided to make use of her presence in this way. The solo singer in two of the songs is not named.

The booklet notes include a spirited argument from Skinner that the ‘Master Jacquet’ who was informator of the Magdalen College choir in 1536 39 could be Jacquet of Mantua; but the number of musicians and composers in those years called Jacquet is so great that there seems very little to make his argument stand up.