Contrapunctus: Motets by Philips & Dering

Two of England’s greatest 17th-century composers of sacred music – Richard Dering and Peter Philips – were Catholics who emigrated from Protestant England and made their careers on the Continent, working for English Catholic convents and for the court of the Spanish rulers of the Netherlands. Contrapunctus explores Philips’s beautifully wrought and expressive motets from his Cantiones sacræ of 1612, alongside duets in the modern Italian manner by Dering, published after his return to England in the service of Queen Henrietta Maria.

Peter Philips
Hodie beata Virgo
Surgens Jesus
Ascendit Deus
Factum est silentium
Tristitia vestra
Salve Regina

Richard Dering
Duo Seraphim
Panis angelicus

Pedro Rimonte
Missa de beata Virgine

Alessandro Grandi
O bone Jesu

'Seriously, startlingly good' – Gramophone

'Superb singing' – The Observer

'The singers shape each piece lovingly. Impeccable.' – The Sunday Times