Would that it were all like that, but as often with Savall there's a serious problem. As happened with his previous disc of Elizabethan Consort Music (AV 9804), Savall has here seen fit to add spurious percussion parts to many of the pieces (actually more than the track listings suggest). While I can just about cope with some of Pedro Estevan's gentle percussion additions, his drumming in such pieces as the Infernum and The Funerals is maddening in the extreme. This is not a purist matter; the music is diminished by such crude effects and I'm amazed that a musician of Savall's sensitivity and stature seems unaware of the fact. For me it wrecks what would otherwise have unquestionably been a contender for one of the records of the year. The rating is evaluated on a basis of performances that warrant between one and five stars. BRIAN ROBINS