Review: Alfonso Ferrabosco 'Il Padre' has suffered a curious fate: he has long been neglected on record, yet in his own time he was the most eminent representative of a famous Bolognese musical dynasty. After emigrating to England at an early age, he spent most of his life in the service of Elizabeth I, earning the admiration of his peers. Though implicated in some distinctly murky affairs - could he have been a secret agent for the queen? - Ferrabosco was above all a musical genius, capable of equally felicitous expression in the motet, the madrigal or the polyphonic chanson.

Songlist: Dolci ire, Aupres de vous, In nomine I, Peccantem me quotidie, Prima pars, Secunda pars, Tertia pars, Quarta pars, Quinta pars, Sexta pars, Septima pars, Octava pars, Nona pars, Decima pars, Undecima pars, Bruna sei tu, ma bella, Domine, non secundum peccata nostra, Quel sempre acerbo

Review: Perhaps Jacobus de Kerle, contemporary and peer of Orlande de Lassus, Clemens non Papa and Philippe De Monte, needed a tireless pioneer of the calibre of Paul Van Nevel to rediscover him for the 21st century. This master of polyphony, who was active in Flanders, Italy and Germany before finally settling in Prague, left works of timeless beauty - as this CD will prove.

Songlist: Credo, Agnus Dei, Cantio octo vocum de sacro foedere contra Turcas, Super omnia ligna, Requiem aeternam, Dies Irae, Libera me Domine, Come nel mar, A cinq voix, A sept voix, Media Vita

Review: For their latest release, Paul Van Nevel and the Huelgas-Ensemble have distilled the quintessence of vocal polyphony. Their spectacular new recording illustrates the dominant styles of the Renaissance as reflected in the Masses by its three greatest masters. The strict counterpoint of the Roman school is evident in the Missa Ut re mi fa sol la by Palestrina (c. 1525-1594); the ripe perfection of the Franco-Flemish school can be heard in the Missa "Tout les regretz" by Roland de Lassus (1532-1594) and the flamboyance of Late Gothic England shines through in the Missa "Ave Maria" by Thomas Ashewell (c. 1478-c. 1513). An entire world recreated in gorgeously vivid sound

Songlist: Missa "Tous les regretz", Missa "Ave Maria", Missa Ut re mi fa sol la

Review: It was in seeking to set to music the emotions they found in literary texts and poems - imitar le parole - that the madrigalists of the early sixteenth century rediscovered the poetry of Francesco Petrarca. The rich imagery of his language provided the springboard for Orlande de Lassus, in particular, to show his mastery over a period of nearly forty years as one of the greatest composers of madrigals.

Songlist: Solo e pensoso, S'una fede amorosa, Di pensier in pensier, Tutto'l di piango, Cantai, hor piango, Che fai, alma?, La ver' l'aurora, Mia benigna fortuna, Io son si stanco sotto, I'vo piangendo

Review: While the latter half of the sixteenth century saw the first stirrings of the Baroque, this period also witnessed the creation of the finest cathedrals in sound, with their foundations in the distant Gothic era of music . . . Composers vied with each other in daring and ingenuity, presenting works with twelve, sixteen, twenty-four and even, in the case of Tallis's famous Spem in alium, forty different voices! The Huelgas Ensemble celebrates its thirty-fifth anniversary with a spectacular selection of these works.

Songlist: Nomen mortis infame, Gloria, Qui habitat, Jesus autem / Credo in Deum, Ecce beatam lucem, En venant de Lyon, Lauda Jerusalem, Exaudi me Domine, Spem in alium