1 MORALES Exaltata est Sancta Dei Genitrix
2 RIBERA Beata Mater
3 CABEZÓN Tiento sobre «Ave maris stella»
4 TORRENTES Asperges me
5 PLAINCHANT Introitus
6 MORALES Kyrie †
7 MORALES Gloria †
8 PLAINCHANT Oratio
9 PLAINCHANT Graduale & Alleluia
10 MORALES Credo †
11 PLAINCHANT Offertorium
12 GUERRERO Ave Maria
13 PLAINCHANT Prefacio
14 MORALES Sanctus †
15 GUERRERO Dulcissima Maria
16 PLAINCHANT Pater noster
17 MORALES Agnus Dei †
18 PLAINCHANT Communio
19 CEBALLOS O pretiosum et admirabile
20 PLAINCHANT Postcommunio
21 CABEZÓN Beata viscera Mariae Virginis
22 MORALES Ave regina caelorum

† Missa Benedicta est regina caelorum

The long awaited follow up to the Orchestra of the Renaissance’s award winning CD of Guerrero’s Requiem [GCD 921402], this new release continues to explore the incredibly rich source of Spanish Renaissance liturgical music in a fascinating recreation of the Assumption Mass at Toledo Cathedral in 1580.

Michael Noone and Richard Cheetham have drawn the greater part of the music performed here from a unique musical repository: a library of massive and sumptuously illuminated parchment choirbooks of polyphonic music from the archives of Toledo Cathedral.

The Assumption Mass combines polyphonic pieces by Cristóbal de Morales, Andrés de Torrentes, Bernardino de Ribera, Francisco Guerrero, Rodrigo de Ceballos and Antonio de Cabezón interspersed by rapturous solo plainchants performed by Josep Cabré.

Cheetham controversially argues that instrumental groups, or a kind of “orchestras”, were widely used in the Renaissance in religious settings to accompany church choirs. And guest conductor, Michael Noone, explains this in an absolutely fascinating booklet note which sheds light on the reasons behind the choices made in reconstructing this event.