Album: Josquin, Missa Sine Nomine/Missa Ad Fugam – Tallis Scholars (Gimell)

The Tallis Scholars's latest offering reveals a variety of colour that would be arresting under any circumstance but is doubly so given that the early "Missa Ad Fugam" and late "Missa Sine Nomine" are based on canons.

"Ad Fugam" is an extrovert work, almost dance-like in its ceremonial brightness – an element emphasised in the group's weird but wonderful blend of low mezzo and high tenor on the altus line – yet concluding with an extended "Agnus Dei" of rapt seriousness. "Sine Nomine" is dark and desolate – a melancholy valedicton in which the stern sopranos and bassess corall the flighty tenors.

Pick of the Album: The sublime 'Agnus Dei' of the 'Missa Ad Fugam'