Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, as you will probably remember if you took "History of Music" in college, did more for sacred polyphony in his day (1525?-1594) than anyone else, pretty much. In my earlier days that sent me scampering to get a few recordings, which back then invariably had the "old-lady vibrato" choir, or so my memory serves me to think, but usually could be found at a budget price.
As performance practices changed over the years, the vibrato mostly is gone, and the choir, especially if it's The Sixteen under Harry Christophers, sounds heavenly. In fact I do have such a disk playing right now, with the Sixteen offering us Volume 3 of their Palestrina series (Coro 16106).
Those who celebrate Easter according to the Roman calendar would be well-served by this volume, as indeed would those who want simply to hear wonderful music. You get 70 minutes of glorious choral polyphony, including "Three Offertories for the Easter Period," "Song of Songs: nos. 4-6," and "Missa Regina Caeli," among other things.
The Sixteen and Palestrina seem made for each other. This is a very nifty volume and right on time. Recommended!
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