Today, Arcadelt’s claim to fame rests in his madrigals: his first book in the genre was reprinted dozens of times over many decades and the famous Il bianco e dolce cigno has earned him his place in music history. But if it needs demonstrating that he was more than a one-trick pony, this recording will do nicely. Following their Palestrinian experiences, Musica Contexta offer a Mass based on a motet by Andreas de Silva, a colleague who preceded Arcadelt at the Sistine Chapel. Though in no way groundbreaking, Arcadelt’s Mass is beautifully judged, constantly complimenting its model’s composer by drawing out his most felicitous ideas. The programme is completed with another motet by de Silva, and a couple more each from Arcadelt himself and his illustrious successor, Palestrina.

Musica Contexta make a virtue of presenting a variety of performance contexts, all of which are known to have held sway in 16th-century Rome, from full choir with or without instrumental accompaniment to solo voice and ensemble (to which the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble contributes very effectively, though the soloist might have varied his tone colour and projected it, dare one say it, with more abandon). Pace the booklet-notes, there seems to me little need to justify this, and the variety it brings to the recording is self-recommending.

The plainchant items are cleanly done, though I suspect that Roman Renaissance singers would have dealt with them more inventively. In general the performances are committed and efficient, if erring (if that’s the right word) just a touch on the side of the staid and cautious. None the less, this recording does more than just plug a gap in the discography; and that it does pleasingly.