Chandos has just released two CDs performed by the Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge that would make an interesting set, as each recording represents a wonderful approach to a repertoire that is not very attractive in principle, but whose quality is still surprising today. The present disc consists of a selection of 25 motets from the 68 Offertoria totius anni secundum Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae consuetudinem by Palestrina (Rome, 1593).

During the second half of the 16th century and even earlier, composers used the motet genre as a pretext for setting fragments from the liturgy without a precise formal conception to music, as well as sacred poems designed to intensify the religious observance of the faithful. In fact, in the motet composers sought to express the maximum in the minimum time. Listening to this double collection of motets is not an exercise that can, nor should be carried out uninterruptedly, which would be equivalent to something like eating two whole boxes of chocolate in a row.

They must be heard gradually, imagined as very beautiful objects related to the liturgy, exhibited in glass cabinets in a museum. And there is no one like Richard Marlon and the Choir of Trinity College to provide just the right light and angle for their display. It is hoped that the series will continue with similar CDs devoted to Lassus and Victoria. MARICARMEN GÓMEZ