he Spirits of England & France, Volume 4:
Missa Caput and the story of the Salve regina

The English anonymous fifteenth-century Missa Caput at the centre of this disc is probably the most significant work from the period. It was copied all across Britain and the Continent and was largely responsible for the universal adoption of the 'parody mass' technique and of today's standard four-part choir arrangement. It is a work of great stature and beauty, in this performance interspersed with a curious Latin poem which describes how two small boys composed the Salve regina antiphon while languishing in Hell. (The poem has recently been discovered and is the subject of a forthcoming monograph by Christopher Page.)

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dawniej CDA 66857; Recording details: July 1996; Rickmansworth Masonic School Chapel, United Kingdom; Produced by Martin Compton; Engineered by Tony Faulkner; Release date: November 1996; Total duration: 67 minutes 30 seconds