"La Quinta essentia": Palestrina, Lassus, Ashewell

Paul Van Nevel and the Huelgas-Ensemble have collected the quintessence of a musical art. Their recording illustrates the three dominant styles of the Renaissance: the Roman school, Franco-Flemish polyphony, and English late Gothic. The chosen formal framework is the mass, and three of its greatest masters contribute to the programme: Lassus, ‘counterpoint on a human scale’, Palestrina, ‘the path of transcendence’, and Ashewell, ‘the irresistible appeal of virtuoso ornamentation’. A whole world recreated in sound!
This title was released for the first time in 2007.