I Fagiolini Essentials

Made up of some of the UK's finest early-music voices, I Fagiolini have carved out a reputation as the go-to choir for performances that blaze with energy and imagination. Their recording celebrating Monteverdi’s 450th anniversary, for instance, takes the lesser-trodden path with rare psalms, motets and sonatas, while their rediscovery of Striggio’s 40-part motet, the work that inspired Tallis’ 40-part Spem in Alium, is a priceless gift to the music world. Feast your ears on a playlist that celebrates all this, plus beautiful works by Gibbons and Byrd, 16th-century Italian carnival music and, from 1952, Daniel-Lesur’s ravishing 12-voice setting of words from the Song of Songs.