Known is his lifetime as "El Cantor de Maria," Francisco Guerrero was second only toVictoria in Spanish renaissance music. Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599), born in Seville, Spain, was a student of Cristobal de Morales and is considered one of the greatest Spanish composers of the second half od the 16th centurey. Unlike his compatriots, Morales and Victoria, Guerrero was taught and worked entirely in Spain. He worked most of his life as associate chapel master and later as chapel master at the Seville Cathedral. Through his travels to Rome, Venice, Marseille, Jerusalem and Bethlehem, Guerrero assimiliated the musical styles of many other countries. He was a prolific composer, publishing motets, masses, litugical works and secular songs. His Marian motets are celebrated as some of the most beautiful compositions of the period. On this new recording, The Tallis Scholars include five of the best, including Ave virgo sanctissima, one of the most loved and imitated pieces of polyphony from any country.
"The performances, using women's voices for the soprano lines, are wonderfully lucid and musically flexible, so that all the detail of Guerrero's constantly mobile part writing is perfectly clear." -The Guardian