This engaging recital builds on the Marian Consort’s recent work in mid-16th-century Renaissance Italy.

Here the focus is on music and Venetian art, co-produced with SWR Kultur and the Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart. To evoke Venice in music is to invoke Ottaviano Petrucci, who first printed polyphony there in 1501; several tracks make this link, including Latin works and Italian frottolas.

The programme is well conceived, with notes by Tim Shephard linking pieces to specific paintings convincingly but without overemphasis. (Willaert’s Beatus Stephanus, for example, sets the martyrdom of the Saint as depicted by Carpaccio.) Only the inclusion of Josquin feels forced: as far as we know, he was never in Venice, and the opening O bone et dulcis Domine Jesu is probably not his.

Among the other composers, Willaert is the most substantial, though some may find Costanzo Festa more approachable – especially in his lovely Nunc Dimittis. Alto Sarah Anne Champion’s honeyed tone suits the frottolas well (especially in Suspir io temo), though I would have welcomed selections that allowed her more agility. She is ably accompanied by Kristiina Watt, who shines in excerpts from the Capirola Lutebook.

The Marian Consort brings its habitual clarity and beauty, but a glimpse of the Venice that knew how to let its hair down wouldn’t have gone amiss.

★★★★