The third instalment in one of Challenge Classics most successful projects: five recordings of music drawn from the Den Bosch Choirbook.

This volume contains Nicolas Champion's Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena which was composed in the early years of the 16th Century. The relatively rare Masses that celebrate saints other than the Virgin Mary were usually composed in response to an individual's or an institution's particular devotional interest. There is good reason to believe that Nicolas Champion composed his Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena expressly for Margaret of Austria, whose devotion to Mary Magdalene is well known. Champion (c. 1475-1533) worked for the Habsburg-Burgundian chapel from 1501 to 1524; this Mass was probably written between 1507 and 1515.

'The five-part series about the Den Bosch choirbooks starts with a de la Rue-Mass of disarmingly high quality: sympathetically brought to life by Stratton Bull and Cappella Pratensis in the literal sense of the word.' - Klassik.com (Gaude Virgo!: Pierre de la Rue - Missa Cum jocunditate, CC72877)

'Jean Mouton's music shaped and sung superbly.' - Gramophone Editor's Choice (Ezekiel's Eagle: Jean Mouton - Missa Tua est potentia, CC72789)

Reviews

A fascinating exploration of performance practice and the role of improvisation in early music, but most important of all, the resulting recording is strikingly splendid.

Gramophone July 2022

If I praised this ensemble’s last disc to the skies (8/21), it’s because it brought something new to the table: the sound of polyphony improvised (or to be more precise, extemporised) on plainchant, a common occurrence at the time to which modern-day ensembles (and, to be fair, scholars too) are just latching on. If anything, this latest offering is finer still. ... If I hear anything that pleases me more all year I shall be surprised. Fabrice Fitch

Gramophone July 2022