Sacred music from the Spanish Age of Gold – the second half of the 16th and first half of the 17th centuries – provided a succulent banquet when the nine voices of the Cardinall’s Musick under Andrew Carwood sang from just below the high altar. Here the Minster’s resonance is particularly clean.

Works by Tomás Luis de Victoria naturally provided the backbone of Thursday’s menu: movements of his parody mass Salve Regina (1592) were dotted throughout the first half of the evening. Written for two choirs, in eight parts, its harmonies are particularly sumptuous, reflecting the composer’s generally sunny disposition.

Tucked into it was an offertory he had written 20 years earlier, while still a student in Rome: Alma Redemptoris Mater. It helped explain why King Philip II was anxious to have Victoria back on Spanish soil as soon as possible.

During the mass, Carwood’s beat was often wide and severe, at odds with the generally smooth textures, not to say distracting. Singers of this calibre do not need this kind of babying. After the interval, however, he was noticeably more restrained.

Here we were treated to two motets by Francisco Guerrero, whose fondness for secular songs spilled over into sacred music that was generally earthier than Victoria’s. The dancing bass line in Virgo Divino Nimium was an excellent example.

Throughout, the group’s steady tone and impeccable intonation conjured an invaluable timelessness, nobly crystallised in Victoria’s splendid Magnificat Primi Toni at the close.