To my knowledge there has never been put forward any theory that Palestrina was an Englishman, but this recording could persuade one that this was the case. All 29 motets (which in fact arrange themselves into a more sophisticated pattern, as John Rutter's note rightly points out) are sung with impeccable good taste, rendered with a full, rich choral sound of great technical precision. The two previous recordings of the complete set (Pro Cantione Antiqua's, on Hyperion, has yet to appear) are as different as could be: the Hilliard Ensemble's EMI recording (8/86—nla), using solo voices, was cool and calculated, and the classic L'Oiseau-Lyre recording by Cantores in Ecclesia from 1974 (10/74—nla) responded minutely to every emotional nuance of the text, each motet seen as a dialogue between lover and beloved, with huge crescendos and diminuendos, massive rallentandos and accelerandos. Neither was totally satisfactory, the one responding too little to the very intimate relationship between text and music, and the other responding far too much.
The new recording does not really solve the problem. While warmer and more flexible than the Hilliard Ensemble's, it is nevertheless too clean and clear. Where is the mystery in Nigra sum? Where is the feeling of rapt sacred-profane meditation of Duo ubera (Rutter speaks of ''bouncy relish'' in his note)? Why is the sudden homophonic treatment of the words ''Ego flos campi'' given so little weight in Ecce tu pulcher es? One feels that these extraordinary pieces have been treated too politely, a little too perfectly. Needless to say, such a view of this music will appeal to a great many people and I am far from encouraging a wholehearted return to the romantic style of interpretation of Cantores in Ecclesia—and yet, something could be learned from them. The boundary between sacred and secular, divine and erotic, is the issue here. For me, this recording stays firmly on the side of the respectable, never really grasping the music's inherent ambiguity. I shall await Pro Cantione Antiqua's recording with interest.'