Viol consort Fretwork commemorates the 500th anniversary of the death of Alexander Agricola with a program of his secular songs and instrumental works. During his lifetime, Agricola, a Franco-Flemish contemporary of Josquin, was hailed by some writers as the greatest composer in Europe. This selections on this disc focus primarily on the substantial proportion of Agricola’s music that survives without text and which may have been conceived for instrumental performance. Fretwork is joined on four tracks by countertenor Michael Chance, who presents different settings of a single tune together in ‘sets.’ The resulting repetition of the original melody points out Agricola’s extraordinary inventiveness in devising fresh counterpoints for each new setting. To complement their selection of Agricola's works, Fretwork offers a first recording of two pieces from Fabrice Fitch’s agricologies - a cycle inspired by the Renaissance master. Fitch is active both as a composer and musicologist, and currently lectures at the University of Durham. Fitch studied composition at McGill University and privately with Brian Ferneyhough. An acknowledged expert in the music of Agricola, Fitch was responsible for this CD's conception and programming, edited the pieces for the project and wrote the disc's illuminating liner notes.