Thomas Tallis, whom many consider the greatest composer in English history, is responsible for some of the most stark and beautiful English-language songs in the sacred repertoire. But he is perhaps most famous for Spem in alium, a Latin motet written in 40 parts. As one might imagine, it’s a monumental work that sounds like almost nothing else from the Renaissance period: dense, heavy, exalted, sometimes overwhelming. On this album it contrasts nicely with his much more modest and straightforward psalm settings and liturgical pieces.