Lassus: Missa super Dixit Joseph & other works

Lassus is always good, and this recording is worth hearing. Cinquecento does a good job, although I miss the sound of a larger vocal ensemble. This one (to me) sounds a little "clinical," but is still very good.

Soothing strains of pure listening pleasure. These performers are masters of their craft.

After a hiatus of three years - well OK, excluding a change of direction with one disc of madrigals which they recorded, but madrigals are not my cup of tea - Cinquecento return with much the same lineup (just the replacement of one tenor with newcomer Achim Schulz who incidentally performs with the daftly-named Beauty Farm whose two disc recording of  Gombert Motets  was released on the very same day as this disc) in a recording featuring the work of one of the most prolific and influential composers of the later Franco-Flemish school.As is usually the case with these releases the selection of works includes a mass along with a number of motets - the mass "Missa super Dixit Joseph" being a parody mass based on Lassus' own motet "Dixit Joseph undecim fratribus suis" which features immediately before the mass in the programme for this disc. Perhaps the most well-known piece here is the closing motet "Timor et tremor" with its slightly madrigalesque flavour.Cinquecento have lost nothing of their verve and cohesion as a unit, with mesmerising and enthralling delivery of Lassus' tightly-woven polyphony, and well-balanced sound recorded in the usual location of the Kloster Pernegg chapel in Austria, demonstrating that they remain in the top rank of ensembles performing Renaissance polyphony around at the present time. There are certainly a number of such superb groups originating from central Europe right now.The booklet provides three pages of notes on the music, plus Latin sung texts and translations. Gombert Motets

Not so good as some recordings by Cinquecento. Vocals poor in places.