From the handsome Dow Partbooks at All Souls, Oxford, explored on a previous disc, these enterprising performers have moved down the road to Christ Church, where the collection of John Baldwin is kept. At the end of the 16th century he brought together a wide range of the music from Tallis, Byrd and Taverner, to pieces by the lesser known Elway Bevin and Derrick Gerarde in what he described as “a store house of treasure”. Voices and instruments alternate but never overlap, making this a spartan but severely beautiful collection, culminating in John Sheppard’s glorious Ave Maris Stella. The acoustic of Merton College chapel provides ideal focus and warmth.
