This is all extremely skilful. The voices of the King's Singers are superbly blended and balanced; they never show any signs of strain; their rhythm is always clear and vital; and Lassus's motets fairly glitter. Many listeners could feel that the singing is very much in the King's Singers' normal style, indiscriminately applicable to all music, they could be worried by transferring this grand music to a solo ensemble; and in particular they could be worried by apparently gratuitous changes of tempo and dynamics. On the other hand, it must be conceded that these performances give the sacred works of Lassus a bite and verve rarely heard otherwise. They make is easier to hear how the music can come from the same hand as Lassus's extraordinarily varied secular pieces.
It is not entirely clear how or why the works here were chosen, but they make a well contrasted anthology, focusing particularly on three extended pieces: the six-voice Te Deum, the wonderfully plangent Pelli meae and the parody-Magnificat based on one of Josquin's finest motets, Praeter rerum seriem.
This last is the one truly puzzling performance. On the New College Choir record, under Edward Higginbottom (Meridian ECD84093, 8/86), the motet lasts just over six minutes; the King's Singers take 3/45N. Perhaps they have been talking to an ill-informed mensuration crank. In some ways it is scintillating, and it makes a fascinating comparison, but the main result is that even these virtuoso performers are simply unable to put out all the notes. Moreover, they take much of the Lassus parody at a similar speed, with similar results, though there is a magical moment when they suddenly halve their tempo for the ''Esurientes'' verse.'