There is a particular delight in encountering good music by an unfamiliar composer. The music of the fifteenth-century Englishman Walter Frye must have been highly regarded in his own time as manuscript copies survive from all over Europe. The Hilliard Ensemble’s recording shows this to be music of great warmth and beauty, amply justifying his contemporaries’ opinions. Like J. S. Bach, he seems to have suffered neglect after his death because of changes in musical fashion, rather than because of any inadequacy in the music. In historical terms it is tempting to put Frye between the mediæval austerity of Dunstable and the more developed counterpoint of Josquin; there is a a richness and a mellifluousness which makes if far more than a "missing link".

Fourteen pieces make up this recording. The first ten are sacred works-four movements of his Missa Flos Regalis interspersed with other sacred works to follow the outline of the mass, and culminating in two versions of Frye’s exquisite Ave Regina. These are followed by four exquisite secular works where Frye’s harmonic imagination shines. The four voices of the Hilliard Ensemble work together very well but are sufficiently distinct and characterful to make the music sound rich and varied. The alto David James deserves special credit for occasionally adding an edge to his voice which a beautiful and appropriate decoration.

It is hard to understand how music of this beauty could have fallen out of the repertoire and the Hilliards deserve particular credit for reviving it. MARK ARGENT