CCMusic.com

Jean Maillard's life is shrouded in mystery, and his music is rarely heard today. Yet in his own time his works were both influential and widely known; indeed, the musicologist Francois Lesure held him to be one of the most important French composers of his era. Who better, then, than Rory McCleery's Marian Consort to give this composer's rich and varied output it's first dedicated recording? Their characteristically precise and yet impassioned performances bring out both the network of influence in which Maillard's music participated it's Josquin-esque pedigree, on successors such as Lassus and Palestrina, and it's striking, individual beauty.