Full of strikingly sensuous passages, both literary and musical, Magnificat's one-voice-per-part performance allows Palestrina's music to speak with clarity and intimacy—a carefully considered balance of poise and passion. No ordinary collection of motets, the Song of Songs sets the most sensual and openly erotic sections of the Old Testament which led Palestrina to employ ‘a style of music a little more lively than normally used in other sacred compositions'.