He might not enjoy the highest profile but John Casken (70 earlier this year) has amassed a substantial and varied catalogue, from which The Dream of the Rood (2008) is typical in its textural density and fine-honed expressive intensity. In setting this Anglo-Saxon poem where the tree in question becomes the cross of Christ’s Crucifixion, Casken has created a near-half-hour cantata whose 15 sections outline a continuous sequence of processions, interludes and motets, reaching its emotional culmination in the ‘Motet of Sacrifice’ – after which the mood becomes ever more inward and meditative. Throughout, the close-meshed interplay of voices and instruments is unfailingly well realised with this performance directed by Clark Rundell, one where the work’s plangent sense of evocation is tangibly as well as eloquently conveyed.

In what was The Hilliard Ensemble’s last recording session before disbanding, the programme also features Casken’s arrangement of Viderunt omnes, the most elaborate of Perotin’s motets and one whose methodical intricacy is emphasised by an instrumental component redolent of those Stravinsky or Maxwell Davies might have utilised in comparable contexts. Also found here are three anonymous medieval motets setting allegorical texts, sung by The Hilliard with that searching impassiveness familiar from this ensemble over four decades of music-making.

Sound and annotations leave little to be desired, the short measure hardly an issue. That said, NMC has a fine account of Casken’s oboe concerto Apollinaire’s Bird available as download, which would be worth issuing with his Symphony and Concerto for Orchestra in due course.