Robert Parsons

Voces Cantabiles/Barnaby Smith

Magnificat
extracts from First Great Service
Responds for the Dead
Ave Maria

Naxos: 8.570451

Robert Parsons (b c.1530) met a death by drowning in suspicious circumstances in 1572; he was admired in his short life but his output was restricted.

In this selection of settings, mostly in English, the Magnificat is outstanding for its soaring soprano lines, taken by women of Barnaby Smith's Voces Cantabiles, a prize-winning chamber choir formed in 2003 from ex-choristers of Wesminster Abbey.

Well performed, but this is perhaps a disc for specialised collectors?

Peter Grahame Woolf