Alonso Lobo is perhaps best known now for his consummate motet Versa est in luctum though in his lifetime he was respected as the equal of the great Victoria himself. This disc includes all seven of Lobo's motets as published in 1602 and one of his finest masses from the same book.

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"Alonso Lobo is best known for one work, his setting of the funerary Versa est in luctum. This is undoubtedly a masterpiece of its kind but to have it placed alongside other pieces from his 1602 collection affords a welcome chance to assess his composition skills more fully. Lobo's music is sonorous in a manner that's direct and unfussy in effect, though often highly expressive, and always structured with the utmost technical control. Take, for example, the AveMaria, an 8-in-4 canon (in other words, four more voices are generated from the original quartet) which emanates a sense of absolute serenity. In fact, each of the motets explores a different aspect of the compositional techniques brought to the genre, and the Mass is equally fine, Lobo making the spacious textures of the motet, Maria Magdalene by his teacher Guerrero a distinguishing feature of his own setting of the Ordinary. The Tallis Scholars are on superb form, the overall sound vibrant and immediate with solo sections providing contrast through a more introspective approach. Even if you've never bought a CD of late-Renaissance polyphony, try this one. You'll be bowled over." The Gramophone Classical CD Guide (2010)