Magnificat - Philippe Rogier - The Huffington Post

A hardy British crew assembled from His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts, a worthy crew in themselves, and Magnificat directed by Philip Cave, perform motets and masses by Spanish Golden Age icon Philippe Rogier who died at age 35, like Schubert, in 1596. He was one of many musicians brought from Flanders to serve in the Royal Chapel of King Philip II in Madrid, rose through the ranks until he made maestro de capilla in 1586. Rogier's was a voice blending the flowing counterpoint of his Flemish predecessors with the polychoral idiom popular in Italy at the time. The performances are delivered with the right blend of musical precision and spiritual haze, captured by the legendary engineers of Linn in just the correct spatial framework, and dynamic subtlety and range.