Palestrina: Missa Aeterna Christi Munera

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was the towering figure of 16th-century European choral music, and his reputation continued to be impressive well into the baroque era — Bach is reported to have hand-copied the entirety of Palestrina’s first book of Mass settings. Depending on how one counts, he wrote somewhere near 100 Masses, so it can be hard to know where to start. I recommend this one, in this performance by the Westminster Cathedral Choir. Not only is the music itself gorgeous, but the choir’s tone is like listening to the sound of ice cream melting.