The 16-strong vocal ensemble Magnificat, under its director Philip Cave, has brought together early Renaissance works under the heading “Josquin’s Miserere and the Savonarolan Legacy” for its 25th anniversary recording. Tracks include the Josquin of the title to settings of Infelix ego by Lassus and Byrd and works by Palestrina and Gombert. The Dominican friar Savonarola was hanged for heresy in Florence in 1498 and immortalised by George Eliot in her novel Romola. If it is not a snappy title for a disc (in fact two, totalling 84 minutes), the pure, unadorned quality of the singing and the range of music make this essential listening.
