Thematic connections are to be teased out everywhere...Above all, this is consummate choral singing, Paul Hillier’s singers create moments of exquisite tenderness and stillness luminous, multi-coloured and virtuosic, each word lovingly and clearly enunciated, each line beautifully shaped, in a performance of deep, rapt spirituality...This recording offers spiritual revelation and sonic pleasure from start to finish.

The leaps between our own time and Umbria 700 years ago seem entirely natural in Hillier’s hands and the virtuosic vocalists of Ars Nova are completely inside the music. This is an uplifting disc, superbly executed.

All of Ars Nova Copenhagen’s performances on this new recording are outstanding. The ensemble produces flawless intonation, blend and nuance at all times, and even straightforward pieces that could be dull in other hands come off very well here. The recording places the singers in a very believable church-like acoustic with space around the ensemble, but also with plenty of detail to be heard.

This is a delightful and quirky programme (something to be expected of Paul Hillier, of course), mixing contemporary music with Italian medieval laude...Ars Nova are, as usual, fully in command of both early and recent styles: this is a sparkling, thoughtprovoking recording of great originality.