During the Renaissance period, it became popular for composers to write “parody” Masses — Mass settings built around popular melodies of the time. “L’Homme armé” was one of the more popular songs to be given this treatment, and another was an English song called “The Western Wynde.” This recording features Masses based on this tune by three of the foremost composers of the Tudor period: John Taverner, Christopher Tye, and John Sheppard. It’s fascinating to hear the highly divergent ways these three great musicians treated the same basic source material.

– Rick Anderson