The Quadruplum is an unusual one; it has a strict syllable count (all the lines having five syllables) and a rigorous ABAB rhyme-scheme throughout. This is matched in the setting. The minor triad which opens the piece—and the major triad which provides its penultimate sonority—shows the kind of strategic dissonance (for so these combinations of intervals were classified) that is to be found in the thirteenth-century motet. On the whole, however, this is a remarkably restrained and mellifluous piece and one that reveals the beauty of sound which thirteenth-century composers often achieved.

from notes by Christopher Page © 1990