The best-known works here address topics previously treated by Janequin in the vocal sphere (respectively, Schmelzer’s sonata depicting birdsong and Biber’s portraying the progress of a battle). Biber arguably outdoes his rival in the means he deploys, including a ‘prepared’ bass viol, ‘Bartòk’ pizzicato and a quasi-aleatoric section representing the hubbub of the drunken soldiery. ... it is to Biber that the lion’s share of the disc is devoted, and no wonder: every work of his stages a coup de théâtre that prefigures musical styles that lay centuries in the future. (There is even a walk-on part for a bass who sings a little devotional hymn, then disappears.) And if that weren’t enough, the aria before the battle is as beguiling a tune as one could wish for. Delightful.  Fabrice Fitch