The Dutch have elevated Anglophilia to an art form, so the only surprise here is hearing such familiar music sung by noticeably un-English (though impeccably well-behaved) voices. A traversal of Elizabethan choral hits, the programme presses most of the buttons one would expect. There are one or two less familiar items (most notably the Ferrabosco sets of Lamentations), but essentially this is well-trodden ground, from Parsons’s Ave Maria (a choral favourite, and the nearest 16th-century polyphony gets to saccharine) to Tallis’s cerebral, serene Miserere nostri.

The one criticism one might have of the programme is its overwhelmingly serious tone. One misses Byrd in his exuberant moods, or Weelkes or even Gibbons, for that matter; all three were capable of sending congregations skipping home, so it seems a shame that the jollier side of the repertory goes mostly unrepresented. (There are also one or two odd choices, notably Cornysh’s Ave Maria, here sung far too fast for comfort.)

Characteristic of the Dutch or Flemish sound is a depth, richness and a full-throated (or better, perhaps, full-chested) sonority, and there is genuine interest in hearing familiar music clothed in foreign garb, particularly since English choral music is so rarely explored by foreign ensembles. These are clean, disciplined performances, but characterised by a certain diffidence, almost as though the singers were conscious of stepping onto someone else’s patch. As a result, the shaping of things is at times somewhat tentative: the ensemble sound is pleasing, but the middle of the texture lacks definition; one has little sense of individual lines having a life of their own. Even the extremes are occasionally hesitant, from the countertenors’ tone and attack to the basses’ lowest notes, always clearly present but never quite ‘kicking in’.

The Gents are, nevertheless, a choir to watch – intonation and ensemble are in general very fine, and their performances not without charm – ably seconded by instrumentalists of no mean stature themselves.