Although Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621) is now best known for his keyboard music, it was his vocal works that were published during his lifetime. Perhaps his greatest achievement ass a composer was the polyphonic settings for between four and eight voices of all 153 psalms based on the French metrical Psalter of Clément Marot and Théodore de Bèze. Published in four volumes between 1604 and 1621, this huge work is one of the great monuments of Protestant sacred polyphony.

This 3-CD selection from the psalms makes an ideal introduction to them, being performed by a professional Dutch choir, experts in early music and in Renaissance Dutch style in particular, and directed by a number of illustrious names including Paul van Nevel, Philippe Herreweghe, William Christie, Ton Koopman and Peter Philips. The Netherlands Chamber Choir were pioneers in their field, at a time when choirs were behind the pace of instrumental ensembles in terms of taking on a modern understanding of how to perform this repertoire, with smaller forces, tight intonation, pure tone and dynamic thrust of phrase.

The selection illustrates the variety and ingenuity to be found in Sweelinck’s vocal output as a whole. There is robust, Venetian-style polyphony; elegantly fluid counterpoint; and straightforward, hymn-like simplicity of gesture. Sweelinck shapes and manipulates his original psalm melodies with an imaginative freedom worthy of Bach in his chorale settings. Like Bach, he is a master word-painter, whether evoking concepts of life and death or down-to-earth images of flora and fauna.

Recorded in the late 1980s at churches in Amsterdam and Haarlem, these performance attracted critical praise when first released, for the ‘first-class’ vocal ensemble and engineering. This reissue includes full annotations on Sweelinck and the psalm settings included.