Stile Antico’s programme is a delightful mixture of the formal and the informal, of sophisticated polyphony and folk-like dances.

Alongside a glorious, richlyscored Christmas mass by the Flemish composer Clemens non Papa, Stile Antico performs traditional old-German carols and motets, many of them still familiar today. Amongst the highlights are Eccard’s infectiously joyful Übers Gebirg Maria geht and Praetorius’s double-choir Magnificat, which includes the carols ‘In dulci jubilo’ and ‘Josef lieber, Josef mein’.

Based on the same ‘Josef lieber’ melody, and neatly joining the two strands of the programme, is ‘Resonet in laudibus’ by the Flemish-born, German-resident master Orlandus Lassus.