Reuss coaxes sable timbres from his 16-voice ensemble, wrapping the listener in a dark shroud – apt for these musical reflections on the transience of things. The singers’ vocal production is tightly focused: intonation and articulation are clean, and the ensemble’s sound is balance and homogenous, with sonorous lower voices enhancing the mournful quality of the music.

This release marks 50 years of Cappella Amsterdam, an ensemble that has worked with a variety of conductors and other performing groups. As constituted here, it numbers four singers on each of the four voices, a warm and flexible group of singers who respond to Reuss’s direction with clear enunciation, lovely tone, and elegant balance.

Cappella Amsterdam deliver what Philippe Herreweghe’s ensemble somehow failed to a decade ago. Ensemble cohesion is greater (surprisingly, given Herreweghe’s usual fastidiousness) but details are more persuasively shaped...rather than draw attention to himself, Daniel Reuss directs with a certain reserve; that these performances do not sound conducted is meant as a compliment.

These are strikingly heartfelt, richly textured pieces, the great late-Renaissance composer weighting pertinent words with striking ingenuity. Under Daniel Reuss’s command, Cappella Amsterdam’s 16 singers give beautifully phrased and blended performances.