How appropriate that the name of Hercules should be invoked in this disc, which represents the conclusion of a truly Herculean labour of love: the recording of all 18 Masses attributed to Josquin over nine discs, taking 34 years to complete.

Josquin album artwork

This massive undertaking, completed in time for the 500th anniversary of Josquin’s death in 2021, seems, at first blush, an unusual project for The Tallis Scholars to have undertaken. Yet, these champions of high Renaissance music, boasting a refulgent high soprano line, were guided by their founder, Peter Phillips to explore the music of this earlier master after the success of their award-winning 1987 disc of the Missa Pange Lingua and the Missa La sol fa re mi.

Phillips describes Josquin as “a genius who felt challenged to make...