Egidius is a Dutch male-voice foursome whose members have performed extensively with several international ensembles (they are supplemented here by a soprano and a further tenor). Their sound may be described as a light-bodied interpretation of that full-throated Dutch manner that one so often has occasion to admire. Here they join the bandwagon of last year’s commemoration of the death in 1598 of The Netherlands’ great nemesis, Philip II of Spain. Ironically, most of Philip’s Kapellmeisters hailed from his Dutch dominions, and this recording represents each one with a song and a motet (excepting Jean Bonmarchais, whose entire work is lost, and Philippe Rogier, by whom we hear two Mass movements on a subject elaborated in the king’s honour).
Taken together, the songs fare better than the motets, although it is difficult to pin down precisely why: it is as though the pieces were recorded more or less in the order in which they appear, and one detects in the latter stages less security of intonation and a slight let-up of the energy that is so conspicuous in the songs, less certainty, too, as to how the music should flow (compare Gombert’s Dicite in Magni, commemorating Philip’s birth, to the version from A Sei Voci, which seems more assured in its pacing and declamation). The songs are more transparently articulated, and always imaginatively: one could hardly wish for a more auspicious start than the disc’s opening track, Leal Amour, and the details of Craint’ et espoir are executed with flair and real lightness of touch worthy of the best of today’s French ensembles. The only oddity concerns Gombert’s A bien grant tort, which is performed three times, starting with the two bottom voices alone, and adding a new voice each time. Since only one verse of text appears to survive, the rationale for this escapes me. Yet at its not infrequent best the ensemble has great cohesion and a commendable variety of shading. It is an enterprising programme, too. I look forward to hearing more from these artists.'