Rice, Rice, Hillman & Pedersen

The Brabant Ensemble, better known for uncovering works by forgotten composers such as Dominique de Phinot, turns to a giant of the Renaissance—perhaps the most celebrated name of the period. Yet within Palestrina’s huge output there are many hidden gems, lacking both recordings and modern performing editions, and it is from among these that the ensemble’s director Stephen Rice has chosen the repertoire for this album. A Mass—Missa Ad coenam Agni, from Palestrina’s first book of Mass-settings—is included, plus antiphons, motets and five Eastertide Offertories. Each work is, as Stephen Rice states in his typically informative booklet notes, ‘a finely crafted addition to the liturgy’.

England's Brabant Ensemble specializes in sacred choral music of the middle 16th century, mostly from present-day Belgium and The Netherlands. Its name comes from the Duchy of Brabant, an incredibly fertile area of the Low Countries whose music was in demand among Italy's powerful families, shaped European music continent-wide, and was the primary component in what is thought of today as "Renaissance choral music."

After their acclaimed recording of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, La Nuova Musica and David Bates expand their PENTATONE discography with Handel’s Unsung Heroes, in which the instrumentalists of Handel’s operas are put centre stage. Traditionally restricted to an “invisible” existence in the orchestra pit, La Nuova Musica’s obbligato instrumentalists – violinist Thomas Gould, oboist Leo Duarte and bassoonist Joe Qiu – are now in the limelight. They will stand as equal partners alongside a world-class line up of soloists – soprano Lucy Crowe, mezzo-soprano Christine Rice and countertenor Iestyn Davies – showing how Handel wrote music as virtuosic and lyrical for his unsung heroes as for their singing counterparts.

Clark Terry joined forces with Cuban bandleader Chico O'Farrill for these 1966 studio session, which consist almost exclusively of Latin tunes. Although there are a number of all-stars present in addition to Terry, including trumpeters Joe Newman, Ernie Royal, and Snooky Young, along with guitarists Everett Barksdale and Barry Galbraith, the solos are all by Terry, so there is little interaction in these brief charts. ~ AllMusic