Winner of the 2018 Gramophone Classical Music Award for Early Music, Volume 5 of Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks contains the world premiere recording of...

Winner of the 2018 Gramophone Classical Music Award for Early Music, Volume 5 of Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks contains the world premiere recording of a Mass by an anonymous English composer from the first half of the 16th century. Since the source of the cantus firmus has not been identified, the Mass remains without a name (""sine nomine""). The release also includes an antiphon addressed to St. Augustine of Canterbury which is the only surviving work of Hugh Sturmy, a short and dramatic Ave Maria mater dei by Robert Hunt, whose Stabat mater is a highlight of vol. 3 of the series, and the sonorous and captivating Ve nobis miseris by John Mason, for men's voices in five parts. This recording is part of a 5-release project which began in 2010.

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Excerpts of reviews from previously released volumes included in this set:

Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks, Vol. 5


2018 Gramophone Magazine Early Music Award Winner

The anonymously-composed Mass in particular is superb. Whoever wrote it almost certainly knew Taverner's Gloria tibi Trinitas, for echoes of it abound, yet it is no slavish imitation. For this piece alone the disc is worth owning. This is one of the discoveries of the year.

– Gramophone

Jones: Missa Spes Nostra - Ludford: Ave Cujus Conceptio - Hunt: Stabat Mater

Robert Jones's Missa Spes nostra, the album's centerpiece, has an almost folk-like quality, though upon other occasions Jones relishes the passing dissonances his juxtapositions invite. It is a highly individualized work, and amply repays repeated listening.

– Fanfare

Ludford: Missa Regnum Mundi; Pygott: Salve Regina

They blend beautifully, but the emphasis isn’t on a homogenous sound; instead, it’s on one that allows each voice part to be heard in its distinct contribution and with a fitting weight, given the shifting balance of musical thought. The texts are enunciated with great clarity, and a degree of emphasis that very subtly seconds moments of intensity.

– Fanfare