Stile Antico just get better and better, although it's difficult to see how they could improve on this, their fifth disc. The music - Tudor music for Advent and Christmas, with Tallis's magnificent yet incomplete Missa Puer natus est as its backbone - is sublime. There is no conclusive evidence as to the Mass's origin and purpose, but its extraordinary scale and virtuosic contrapuntal intricacy point to a very grand occasion. Based on the plainchant Puer natus est nobis (the introit for Christmas Day Mass), it is in seven parts, its textures rich and dense. The fourteen voices of Stile Antico relish this music, investing the Gloria with a strong rhythmic thrust, lightening the Laudamus te with almost soloistic inflections. The rise and fall of individual parts within the Agnus Dei produces gorgeous sonorities, and there is an extraordinary hypnotic effect towards the end, where motifs are repeated. The singing is invariably poised, the ends of phrases beautifully handled. The Byrd Propers that accompany the Mass are models of conciseness, given sturdy performances but providing a good contrast with the Tallis. Robert White's Magnificat alternates plainchant with counterpoint. The contrapuntal verses themselves vary in conception, some very full six-part writing, others with smaller configurations of voices. Again, the music is complex, and spans a wide vocal range. The motets interspersed throughout the disc are performed to the same high standards. The hushed opening of Tallis's Videte miraculum, with the voices emerging gradually in tones of rapt adoration, is one highlight; the radiant and sensuously enveloping sound created by the choir in Sheppard's Verbum caro is another. There can be few better ways to celebrate Christmas.


Reviewed by Anne McAlister