This is the debut recording of Cantores, a mixed English choir of about 16, originally from Exeter. Penitential music is a seam of renaissance polyphony that lends itself to many presentations and programmes, and this one is quite distinctive. There are many 'masterpieces' here but, curiously, the work that stands out is Cornyshe's Woefully arrayed: the text is astonishingly direct (Christ addresses the listener from the Cross, as in Josquin's Huc me sydereo which would have made an ideal companion piece) and the music's wide ranges seem to convey a sense of desolation, of the four voices being (paradoxically) utterly alone.
Alongside the drama of Cornyshe's setting (here given a committed performance), the other pieces make less of an impact. The Stabat mater settings of Josquin and Lassus are restrained in comparison, Pashe's Sancta Maria, mater dei comes across as pedestrian, and Sheppard's Media vita overstays its welcome (though in the last two cases I am inclined to blame the composers). I suspect that the choice of tempos may contribute to this impression: had they been brisker, the singers would have had more scope to shape the music persuasively. As it is, they are sometimes heard to strain (as in the very affecting peak of the altus line in Josquin's motet, at the phrase 'quis est homo qui non fleret'), or to give undue emphasis to certain details (like the four-square rhythms at 'et tremebat cum videbat'). If this seems a rather muted verdict, the choice of pieces inevitably invites comparison with other performances, of which there exist superb examples for nearly every piece. On a more positive note, Gombert's Lugebat David has majestic pacing and a subtle conclusion.'