Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

One should never judge a CD by its cover but this release deserves to be an exception: the full-colour digipak is like a beautiful little jewel box and the contents are the treasure chest of cliché. The CD accompanies John Rutter's book European Sacred Music although it does stand quite happily on its own as an excellent introduction to European church music from the 16th to 18th centuries. The booklet notes with full texts and translations are both helpful and interesting and the music is superb. Before we survey the contents though we should applaud the excellent production and engineering by Simon Eadon: rarely has a CD both looked and sounded as good as this. Of course a quality production job is worthless if the musicians fail to deliver but, once again, Rutter's house choir, The Cambridge Singers, are as arresting as ever. Several times they sing a cappella leaving themselves nowhere to hide but every time they deliver. Accompanying the choir we meet La Nuova Musica for the first time. This early music ensemble was founded in 2007 by counter-tenor David Bates and we hope to hear much more from them in the future. So full marks for presentation and musical performance. What of the content? Alphabetically we run from Felice Anerio's "Christus Factus Est" to T L de Victoria's "O Vos Omnes; Jesu, Dulcis Memoria" or, if you prefer a chronological approach, we start with an "Ave Maria" by Josquin Desprez (c 1440-1521) and finish with "O Jesu Christ, Meins Lebens Licht" by J S Bach (1685-1750). Whichever way you programme your CD player you get 20 great pieces all performed as well as could be imagined. If I had to select a personal favourite, it would be Buxtehude's "Magnificat" but, truly, this is no more than a first among equals. Whether you are new to the music of this era or a seasoned collector this release is recommended without reservation.