Guerrero / Palestrina / Victoria: Roma Aeterna – New York Polyphony

   in Early Music Today (Dec, 2016)
This latest release from American star vocal quartet New York Polyphony is timed to coincide with their 10th anniversary celebration – and with the recent retirement of Anonymous 4, it seems clear that NYP has gained a thoroughly deserved place at the top of the US vocal tree.

Roma Æterna has at its heart music by two of the greatest Renaissance composers, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Tomás Luis de Victoria; the former is represented by perhaps his most famous work, the Missa Papæ Marcelli (for which two additional singers are roped in), and the latter by the Missa O quam gloriosum. Both works receive performances that are the very …