No narrative is offered to link this representation of a glorious century in English music by Sally Dunkley in her (typically useful and graceful) booklet-notes, and perhaps none is needed. Every work here is a masterpiece of its kind, and the “logic and propulsion” and rhythmic vigour that she finds in Taverner’s Mass are virtues that mark the 18 or so voices of Ars Nova throughout the recital, both severally and in concert.

The Mass is pitched a semitone higher than the Christ Church Cathedral recording that so impressed me 18 months ago (10/07), with an evident gain in the clarity of the bass part while steering clear of the helium-filled heights scaled (with total security, let it be said) by the Tallis Scholars and The Sixteen. Ars Nova is most similar in collective sonority to the last-mentioned, but their handling of the most complex counterpoint in Taverner’s Credo and his sensually melismatic lines in the Sanctus is more winningly flexible. Just so, the plainchant between each polyphonic section is chastely done yet fully alive with sense and meaning, and the two musics come together near the end of the disc in settings of ancient hymns by Byrd and Tallis to coolly memorable effect. The acoustic of St Paul’s Chuch, Copenhagen, is a reticent presence, in tune with the compelling sobriety of the whole enterprise.