This second disc from the relatively new ensemble Biscantores has had a long gestation: recorded in September 2020 as Europe slowly emerged from Covid lockdowns, it took nearly three years to be released, but it has been worth the wait. As specialists in late Renaissance and Baroque music, Biscantores present an interesting and varied programme from the Mantuan court of the Gonzagas spanning the foundation of the Basilica Palatina di Santa Barbara and its cappella in 1565 to the sack of Mantua in 1630.

The programme opens with Monteverdi’s delightful earworm, Confitebor III alla francese from his ‘Moral and Spiritual Forest’, Selva morale e spirituale, published in Venice in 1640. I’ve long admired the recording by Cantus Cölln and Konrad Junghänel (Harmonia Mundi, A/01) but Biscantores have an edge: where Junghänel’s quicksilver tempo made ornaments sparkle, Colombo’s broader pace reveals a fond, mesmeric quality. Notable too is the brightness of sopranos Francesca Cassinari and Vera Milani.

The programme remains strong as it moves into less familiar territory. Monteverdi’s predecessor Benedetto Pallavicino is a welcome find: knowing only his madrigals on a 2013 recording from Daltrocanto (Pan Classics), the Dum complerentur recorded on this new album is a text that offers both restraint as well as madrigalian opportunities, and Biscantores find a superb balance between the two extremes with their tight blend and warm, clear tone. Salamone Rossi’s Keter yitnu is also an ear-catching track: Rossi was both a viola da braccio player and instrumental leader for the Gonzagas in the second half of the 16th century.

This is a near-perfect album – bright, sprightly, responsive and clear. If I’m being picky, I would prefer them to invoke a sense of grandeur in several works without such ponderous tempos. I’m swayed, of course, by knowing Wert’s Adesto dolori meo in the brassy sonorities of Capilla Flamenca and Oltremontano (Passacaille) but Biscantores have plenty of time to hone that sort of gravitas in future.