Franco-Flemish composer Pierre de Manchicourt (c.1510-1564), a follower of Gombert and Créquillon, was one of the last polyphonists of his day before the new style developed by Lassus and the musicians of his generation came along. So it's a style of writing that some might call "old-fashioned": which, while not necessarily false, is hardly a fault! Note that Manchicourt was the Chapel-master to the King of Spain, Philip II of Spain, whose court was hardly the place for radical revolutions... This superb recording from the Huelgas Ensemble ably weaves together the Missa Veni Sancte Spiritus, still marked by a few late-medieval accents, with a few more daring religious motets and some secular songs of great beauty – profane, to be sure, but solidly polyphonic all the same: the new Italian influence seems to have passed Manchicourt by. All these masterpieces date from 1540 to 1560, at least in terms of their year of publication. © SM/Qobuz