And the texts are one of the joys of this repertoire. Landini also was a poet and he used many of his own works for his musical settings. Among these 17 songs are examples of some of the most heartfelt, impassioned expressions of devotion and love you'll find anywhere. Of course, the translations provided--in English, French, and German--only suggest what must be the richer beauty of the original Italian, but that's where these four extraordinary singers come in. Anonymous 4 has been performing early music for a long time and if anything the singers know how to present a song and how to inflect and otherwise articulate its meaning to an audience. With their passionate, romantic themes these ballate, as the form was known, invite first rate interpreters to show their best stuff, and that's what we get here. Over the years this group has lost nothing of its original purity of tone, natural, warm vocal color, or impeccable musical technique. No matter what the repertoire, the result was and is the same: musical satisfaction guaranteed. Again, as we've come to expect, the sound is ideal, the packaging is gorgeous. My only question now is, what will they think of next?