This is a significant release, not least because of the outstanding quality of the music and the performances. For here, the Alpha label celebrates the 100th title in its ut pictura musica series by reuniting two artists who ‘collaborated’ on the very first title: the painter Claude Lorrain (1600-1682), whose Seaport with Ulysses returning Chryseis to her father Chryses adorns the cover of the present issue and Le Poème Harmonique, which presents the music of Charles Tessier and his contemporaries in the form of a journey, a feast and a reflection on the series as a whole.

Tessier (1500-?) was a French lutenist and composer who sought patronage far and wide, absorbing much along the way to incorporate into his musical style, particularly from the English lute song (John Dowland is represented here by The Earl of Essex Galliard and Burst Forth my Tears). The contents of Tessier’s two collections were, like Dowland’s, printed as part songs that may be performed in different configurations, from voices with or without instrumental doubling, to a single voice with lute.

Which is what we get here, with Le Poème Harmonique under director Vincent Dumestre rendering French airs de court and chansons, Italian villanelles and airs Spanish and English in varying hues and tints, from a single plucked instrument to a full ensemble that includes bombardes, dulicans, recorders, viols and percussion. The vocalists, particularly soprano Claire Lefilliâtre, are both stylish and persuasive throughout – as indeed are all the performers. You would expect nothing less. WILLIAM YEOMAN