These two recordings were made 20 years apart, the first being a compilation of two Saga Classics LPs. Those familiar with the group’s later output may be surprised by the tone of “Music for Tudor Kings”, which is rather edgier in comparison. The willingness to “let rip” in the bawdier numbers is actually startling (Cornysh’s Hoyda, hoyda, jolly ruttrkyn is the best example) and still very refreshing. One senses the young ensemble, eager no doubt to make their mark and show off not only their dazzling vocal dexterity but also a new approach. In fact, few of their later recordings of secular music recapture this truculent, bawdy atmosphere. On the other end of the emotional scale is a deeply moving account of Cornysh’s Woefully Arrayed, which is worth the price of admission on its own.

The material recorded with the New London Consort is slightly later (dating from the reign of Henry VIII), and voices and instruments are sometimes combined (and then relatively selectively), and sometimes not. Not all the music is top-drawer: My Heartly Service is included, I suspect, as an example of Renaissance doggerel, and the singers’ enthusiasm compensates the composer’s apparent lack of it. “Completists” should note that the a cappella selection of pieces from the Fayrfax manuscript has been abridged, which seems a pity, for of the two projects it is perhaps this one that has aged better.

The Dufay recital is the last of a series made in the 1990s, originally issued on the group’s label, Hilliard Live. The project appears to have been discontinued – again a pity, for these concert recordings count among the ensemble’s most valuable projects of latter years. The centrepiece is Dufay’s Mass Se la face ay pale, surely the composer’s best-known setting of the Ordinary. Though not my first choice, this account has a directness and unaffected efficiency that is highly enjoyable, making it a worthwhile foil to Diabolus in Musica’s account (Alpha, 3/08). The rest of the programme consists of songs and motets spanning the whole of Dufay’s long career. These reissues are indeed welcome.