One might be forgiven for getting these two recordings mixed up: both of them are from Italian mixed a cappella ensembles with confusable names (Daedalus invented the labyrinth, remember), each of which uses comparable forces of either one or two singers per part; and both have as their centrepiece Lassus’s settings of the apocryphal Sybilline Prophecies, which were thought to herald the coming of Christ. These 12 short pieces (with an even shorter introduction), which were written shortly after the young Lassus arrived at the court of Munich, bear the traces of his still recent stay in Naples, the then home of some of the weirder chromatic experiments of the 16th century. They have not perhaps been ideally served on disc (despite fond memories of Cantus Cölln’s early recording), and neither of these fine ensembles quite hits the mark either. The main reason seems to me the choice of pitch, which lies often just fractionally higher than the sopranos are comfortable with. It’s entirely an avoidable problem, as pitch standards were not fixed at the time anyway, and changing relative pitch between numbers would not have been out of place. (The break between songs 9 and 10, where both ensembles switch from high to low voices, takes the notated score too literally). That said, De Labyrintho’s reading is marginally more secure technically and sure-footed in its direction.

But to any Lassus enthusiasts wondering whether to acquire either or both discs, I would point out that the accompanying works are handled rather better. Daedalus gives us the composer’s second set of readings from the Book of Job (published 1582), an excellent choice that offers distant but unmistakable echoes of the Prophecies. The set’s remarkable concentration gives the ensemble more to hold on to, technically speaking. De Labyrintho’s “B-side” is conceived more clearly in terms of contrast, showing off Lassus’s sacred music in full pomp. The Propers for Christmas are nicely handled, and the superb setting of the Magnificat (based on Josquin’s motet) is just about worth the price of admission on its own. So if the main attraction doesn’t quite live up to expectations (De Labyrintho’s previous discs promised better), both recordings are worth hearing, for all that.