Top male-voice ensemble Cinquecento – six singers from five different European countries – has specialised in early vocal music for more than a decade. This collection comes from the high Renaissance: the Franco-Flemish composer Orlande de Lassus (1530/32-94) ranks with Palestrina and Victoria as one of the greats of the period, though arguably less appreciated. His music has a stern, expressive power, with sensitive word-setting (as here in the motet Timor et tremor – Fear and Trembling). The Missa super Dixit Joseph is based on one of Lassus’s own motets telling the Bible story of Joseph and Jacob. Cinquecento, pure-toned but never over-polished, are willing to take risks, which gives this ethereal music energy and life.
