There is no shortage of things shared in common between Claude Le Jeune and Roland de Lassus (1530-1600 and 1532-1594 respectively); one was born in Mons, and the other a stone's throw away in Valenciennes. They knew and appreciated each other's work. But the main difference between them lay in the religious backdrop: Mons was Catholic, and Valenciennes a bastion of the Huguenots. That lay at the root of the very different styles in our two musicians' works. Here, Le Jeune takes the cake, with a range of religious motets and secular songs, which he excelled in, and which offered him a space to experiment with new harmonies, rhythms and melodies. But sadly for Le Jeune, the obstacles faced by French Protestantism barred him from spreading his works very far, so his fame was restricted to the more tolerant parts of Europe. We should add that the Italian style was beginning to spread more widely – and Lassus would take full advantage of this development – but Le Jeune gave it the brush-off, with the result that his music had a somewhat less "modern" sound, in spite of his considerable daring. Of course, today, these considerations have all passed away, and we can listen to this sublime music, performed magnificently by the Huelgas ensemble. © SM/Qobuz