For years it was suspected that some sort of joke lay behind the sobriquet “non Papa” that so often attaches to Clemens’s name in contemporary sources. And so it’s proved, with a recently recovered document describing him as a confirmed drunkard and an all-round bad lot. At least one prospective employer (the heir to the Holy Roman Empire, no less) was thus put off from offering him employment, yet fellow composers wrote moving elegies at his passing. It’s been nearly 25 years since the Tallis Scholars first devoted an entire recording to him, and the pieces here contrast neatly with the somewhat bland music of the earlier offering. His setting of the Mass for the Dead understandably gets top billing, for despite its modest scale and simplicity, it is an affecting piece, as its opening movements signally testify. The Brabant Ensemble sing this with admirable clarity, assisted by a very transparent acoustic and recorded sound image.

The accompanying motets are all penitential in character. As extended pieces, they show off a different side to Clemens, compositionally. A recurring feature is his fondness for extended sequences by way of conclusion and other forms of repetition. This, and the uniformity of tone due to the penitential subject matter, means that the disc is perhaps better sampled than sat through. But it’s typical even of the better-known pieces that their fame has been based more on reputation than performance; and although one might have wished for more variety of content and delivery, Clemens and this recording are both worth hearing.