While one might legitimately question the need for another anthology of choral music by Arvo Pärt, this recording creates the illusion of hearing the music for the first time. The small size and the clear, fresh voices of the Byrd Ensemble, an American group with a strong background in Renaissance music, mean that the dissonances and their consequent resolutions in the Seven Magnificat Antiphons and the Magnificat in particular are brought into focus in a truly remarkable way.

The precision of the performances, and the great attention paid to the enunciation of the texts, does not mean that they are cold or uninvolving, however: there is also a sense of space, of unhurriedness, that lets the music breathe. This is vitally important particularly for the narrative sense of the three English-language pieces recorded here (I am the True Vine, The Woman with the Alabaster Box and Tribute to Caesar), which depend greatly both on a sense of singing through the pauses in the musical phrases, and of continuity as they move from one voice to another. The clarity of the recording is also a vital factor in this.

The Berlin Mass also receives a wonderfully crystalline performance, with organ registrations very sensitively chosen by Sheila Bristow, but for me it is the Magnificat and the Antiphons that show best the Byrd Ensemble’s ability to enter into the spirit of this music, simultaneously ‘stripped’ and loaded with meaning. Highly recommended.