This triple CD box set is testimony, in part at least, to the sterling work that Naxos have been doing over the last decade not only for early music in general but for many performers from all over the world who would otherwise have remained little known to us. Several of them are represented here and their work is astonishingly varied, often controversial but always exciting and worth hearing. This is a compilation box and it comes with all the frustrations and pleasures you might expect. It is after all meant as a stimulus to buyers to investigate the work of these groups. On the other hand it could be seen by some purchasers as constituting the early music section of their collection.

The Naxos performances of both the Carmina Burana and the Cantigas are more declamatory than their rivals and this is true of all the pieces performed here by Ensemble Unicorn and Ensemble Oni Wytars, separately or together. The only CD featuring Oni Wytars which I did not already have is From Byzantium to Andalusia; the performances from that programme are sufficiently persuasive to add the rest of that album to my wish-list.

The extracts from the Oxford Camerata’s recordings of Hildegard of Bingen will almost certainly whet your appetite for the parent CD and their other Hildegard recording. Whilst these are not the last word on Hildegard, they will serve very well as an introduction to her…

The first volume of this three-CD set, Music for a knight, consists of a widely varied assortment of pieces, some sacred, some secular, some instrumental, and some vocal, including trouvère and troubadour songs, Cantigas de Santa Maria, dances, and works by Hildegard and Perotin, taken from about a dozen previous releases by ensembles such as Tonus Peregrinus, Oxford Camerata, Ensemble Unicorn, and Ensemble Accentus. The diversity of material and performing forces makes this an especially attractive disc, and the performances are outstanding—lively and polished. The second volume, Music of the church, is a reissue of a single CD, Adorate Deum: Gregorian Chant from the proper of the mass, performed by Nova Schola Gregoriana, and all-male ensemble led by Alberto Turco. This CD is notable for its homogeneity—all the chants are monophonic, and the performances are quiet and low-key. This would definitely work as lulling background music or as an aid to relaxation or meditation. The third volume, Music of the Mediterranean, provides a fascinating combination of Eastern and Western music of the period, including an astonishing setting of the Kyrie Eleison that sounds like it came from a mosque rather than a church. As in the first volume, the selections come from a variety of previous releases, with the Ensemble Oni Wytars is featured prominently. The sound is consistently good for all the selections. The collection should be of interest to early music fans, and is especially useful in that it points listeners to the CDs from which the selections are taken.