This would be a good choice for anybody wanting a first taste of Chapelle du Roi's splendid Tallis series. This eighth volume combines one of his best-known sacred works with a fascinating novelty in the form of an English version of the famous 40-part motet.

Together with some interesting and beautiful rareities, they make an attractive, coherent musical sequence. The sensitively moulded performance of the Lamentations avoids the twin pitfalls of over-emotionalism and excessive detachment. Dynamic contrasts are subtle rather than dramatic, and the singers enjoy Tallis's characteristic dissonances without wallowing in them.

Restraint is thrown to the winds, however, in Sing and Glorify, the English-text adaptation of the 40-part Spem in alium, which triumphantly concludes a group of other such versions of Latin motets. No mere stereo recording of this tour de force can completely reproduce the effect of a live performance, but Chapelle du Roi succeed in conveying a sense of spaciousness and grandeur.