Directed by Jonathan Brown the acclaimed English a cappella octet sing the motets of Clemens non Papa, Josquin, Ockeghem, Willaert and with a special focus on the works of Pierre de La Rue (c.1452-1518). La Rue wrote masses, motets, Magnificats, settings of the Lamentations, and chansons, and overall showed more diversity than almost any of the other composers of his generation, except perhaps for Josquin. La Rue's motets are mostly for four voices; they use pervasive imitation, though not usually at the outset (unlike the style of Josquin).

Nicolas Gombert, active in the first part of the sixteenth century, was of the generation that followed Josquin Desprez and may have been Josquin's student. His a cappella choral music, said one laconic but spot-on contemporary, 'avoids rests.' In place of the gracefully alternating pairs of voices in Josquin's sacred works the listener hears overlapping imitative voice entrances that feel like waves in an ocean of tones. Some may find his dense, low sound a fascinating and enveloping thing, while others might wish for Josquin's clear text settings, whose meanings in works like Ave Maria...virgo serena almost come across even if you don't consult the Latin translation. It's a matter of personal preference. But if you'd like to investigate Gombert for yourself, this inexpensive reissue disc makes a good place to start for several reasons. The opening Credo in eight parts represents Gombert at his most sonically ambitious; it's a little-known wonder of rich Renaissance part-writing. The all-male vocal ensemble Henry's Eight achieves superb pitch precision in very difficult choral writing. The cutting quality of the male countertenor voice helps clarify Gombert's dense textures, and when the singers pair up on parts in some of the pieces for four or five voices, the vibrations between the paired voices are good ones. Beyond their technical skills, Henry's Eight seem to have special insight into Gombert's individual language, which is gloomy and stately, yet highly expressive. Sample some of track 11, the motet Media vita in morte sumus (In the middle of life we are in death), for an example of the intensity this group can bring to music that seemed very dry when Renaissance groups first began to record it several decades ago. The only question mark here is that music editor John O'Donnell has added dissonances to the music in accordance with theories specifying a 'secret chromatic art' known to singers of Gombert's time; the idea is that the composer did not need to specify the sharps and flats that produce these dissonances because singers would have known to put them in -- or sometimes, at cadences, leave them out (the combination of what we would call a sharp versus a natural leading tone is one of the common ones). Some are pretty pungent, and the buyer should know that not everyone accepts this notion. In any event, however, Henry's Eight handles even the harshest clashes with perfect aplomb.