Palestrina: Missa Regina Caeli and other works

"In the third of their Palestrina series, the Sixteen have chosen music for Easter. They open with the eight-voice Stabat Mater, written c1590 for the papal choir to sing in Holy Week. The subject – the grieving mother at the foot of the cross – is all the more anguished in this unadorned double-choir setting, sung with full, pure tone and welcome momentum. In addition to Song of Songs settings and Easter offertories, the main work is the Missa Regina Caeli, which Palestrina wrote near the end of his life, when he longed to retire and give over his soul 'in contemplation of the Divine.' The Sixteen have their own divine qualities, generously on display here" (Fiona Maddocks, "Review," Guardian, 3/16/13).

View catalog record here!