Taken from performances in the crypt of St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney in April this year, The Song Company’s latest disc is a three-part exploration of the Easter story using a thoughtful blend of renaissance polyphony and contemporary works. At the core of the program is Monteverdi’s Missa In Illo Tempore, along with the motet by Gombert which gives the mass its name.

Unlike most of his works, Monteverdi’s accomplished unaccompanied mass setting was written in old-school ‘prima pratica’ in the hope it would win him papal favour and a performance in the Sistine Chapel. Between these movements of intricate polyphony come a number of contrasts. Thou Wast Present As On This...