Stabat Mater a 8
Regina caeli a 8
Hymn:
Ad caenam agni providi
Missa Regina caeli
Offertories for the Easter period:
Confitebor tibi Domine
Terra tremuit
Improperium exspectavit cor meum
Song of Songs:
nos. 4-6:
Vineam meam non custodivi
Si ignores te, O pulchra inter mulieres
Pulchrae sunt genae tuae

A towering figure in Renaissance polyphony, Palestrina is arguably one of the greatest composers of Liturgical music of all time. Harry Christophers and The Sixteen continue their exploration of his work with a disc of music for the Easter period.

Many of the works on this new recording celebrate the joyful part of Easter - the Resurrection - and the central mass on this disc is the wonderfully inspired Missa Regina caeli. The Mass is based on the well-known, immediately recognisable, plainchant Antiphon Regina caeli and the recording also includes the 8-voice motet of the same name.

As with volumes 1 and 2 this disc also includes three of Palestrina’s settings of the Song of Songs alongside three offertories for the Easter period and the hymn Ad caenam agni providi.

This disc would not be complete, however, without the exquisite 8-voice Stabat Mater - possibly Palestrina’s most famous piece in current times and a work that emphasises the other side of the Easter story - the agony and pain of the Crucifixion