GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA

Coro CO 6106

Palestrina: Vocal Works, Volume 3 – The Sixteen, Harry Christophers

A towering figure in Renaissance polyphony, Palestrina is arguably one of the greatest composers of liturgical music of all time. Harry Christophers and The Sixteen continue their exploration of his work with a download of music for the Easter period.

Many of the works on this new recording celebrate the joyful part of Easter – the Resurrection – and the central mass on the disc is the wonderfully inspired Missa Regina caeli. The Mass is based on the well-known, immediately recognisable, plainchant Antiphon Regina caeli and the recording also includes the eight-voice motet of the same name.

As do Volumes 1 and 2, this download includes three of Palestrina’s settings from the Song of Songs alongside three offertories for the Easter period, as well as the hymn Ad caenam agni providi.

The disc would not be complete, however, without the exquisite eight-voice Stabat Mater – possibly Palestrina’s most famous piece and a work that emphasises the other side of the Easter story: the agony and pain of the Crucifixion.