Thomas Tallis: Spem in alium; Lamentations; Mass & Motets

Editorial Reviews
Album Description

Thomas Tallis (1505-1585)

Spem In Alium - Lamentations - Mass & Motets

Magnificat
Philip Cave, director

Caroline Ashton, Janet Coxwell, Sally Dunkley, Rebecca Outram - soprano
Michael Lees, Fergus McLusky - alto
Steven Harrold, Daniel Norman, Tom Raskin, Julian Stocker - tenor
Jonathan Arnold, Neil Bellingham, Robert Macdonald – bass

Magnificat was formed in 1991 to explore the rich diversity of choral music from the last five centuries. Many of its young professional singers are former Oxford and Cambridge choral scholars or were trained at the country’s leading music conservatoires. The choir takes its name from Mary’s canticle in St. Luke’s Gospel, the Magnificat: My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. This song of praise reflects the spirit of the music that has played a formative part in the musical education of many of the singers through Choral Evensongs in Chapels and Cathedrals and establishes the ensemble’s particular interest in sacred choral music.

Philip Cave is Magnificat’s founder and conductor. He was a choral scholar and lay-clerk at Christ Church, Oxford, under Simon Preston and has worked as a singer with many of the country’s leading choral ensembles and conductors including The Clerkes of Oxenford, The Hilliard Ensemble, The Sixteen and the choir of The English Concert. He is a member of The Tallis Scholars and a lay-clerk at New College, Oxford.

Customer Reviews:

Go To Amazon.com/uk.......2006-02-23

Thank you Paul Schleuse. Your review is right on, and most importantly, I paid $113. (including shipping) from amazon.com/uk to Boston. Less than halk the price here.

Wonderful Set, but why pay this much?.......2005-07-30

This is a landmark set: the complete works of one of the most important composers of the 16th century, in performances of grace and clarity. However, you can get it for less than half of the US price by buying it at Amazon.co.uk. At GBP65.20, it works out to just over $100, or about $10 per disc--quite a bargain on a major addition to any serious early-music collection.

Thomas Tallis: Spem in alium; Lamentations; Mass & Motets

Average customer rating:

Thomas Tallis: Spem in alium; Lamentations; Mass & Motets

Manufacturer: Linn Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00069OVVO
Release Date: 2004-10-16

Album Description

Thomas Tallis (1505-1585)

Spem In Alium - Lamentations - Mass & Motets

Magnificat
Philip Cave, director

Magnificat was formed in 1991 to explore the rich diversity of choral music from the last five centuries. Many of its young professional singers are former Oxford and Cambridge choral scholars or were trained at the country's leading music conservatoires. The choir takes its name from Mary's canticle in St. Luke's Gospel, the Magnificat: My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. This song of praise reflects the spirit of the music that has played a formative part in the musical education of many of the singers through Choral Evensongs in Chapels and Cathedrals and establishes the ensemble's particular interest in sacred choral music.

Philip Cave is Magnificat's founder and conductor. He was a choral scholar and lay-clerk at Christ Church, Oxford, under Simon Preston and has worked as a singer with many of the country's leading choral ensembles and conductors including The Clerkes of Oxenford, The Hilliard Ensemble, The Sixteen and the choir of The English Concert. He is a member of The Tallis Scholars and a lay-clerk at New College, Oxford.

Tracks:

Te Lucis Ante Terminum
Salvator Mundi
Spem In Alium
In Iejunio Et Fletu
O Salutaris Hostia
Lamentations I
Lamentations II
Miserere
Mass: Gloria
Mass: Credo
Mass: Sanctus
Mass: Benedictus
Mass: Agnus Dei

Customer Reviews:

Indescribable.......2000-12-03

This is a CD for serious Tallis lovers.

Magnificat have come of age in this recording, with musically sound and dicpilined renderings of some very difficult works. The Spem in Alium is possibly the best recording I have ever heard. It rivals the Tallis Scholars, and that's saying something. It definitely blows the Camdridge Singers' version out of the water. Imagiune that! Something that shows up John Rutter's choir at the height of its perfection!

For anyone who doesn't know, "Spem In Alium" is a motet in forty parts. It is huge. Ten minutes of pure musical delight. A sea of sound on which false relations and glorious moving lines float by almost unnoticed. And yet it posesses moments of such intense intimacy - e.g. between the first half-force entry and the full frontal forty part assault, and again after that assualt is finished.

This choir displays fantastic musicality. They do so much with the phrases, the shapes and textures, and so flawlessly it is amazing. My only musical criticism is of the basses in some passages, for instance the start of Salvator Mundi, where admittedly they do have to have a strong presence throughout the phrase, but there could be something more done to it to make it more interesting!

But I digress. The whole CD is basied on one voice to one part - just as Tallis wrote. In the hands of such musical performers, and with a sympathetic conductor, the results are beyond belief. As I implied before, the Spem in Alium is the star of the show, but the Lamentations are amazing - there are a few moments where the voices fail the minds - particualy at the start of phrases (e.g. "Ghimel" where the solo tenor is exposed. However, it is apparent from the very beginning that these are singers who love Tallis and undertand his wriing in a way that no conductor can ever teach, nor engineer counterfeit. Philip Cave is to be congratulated, more for his construction of such a group than his conducting, which is obviously first class nonetheless.

I challenge anyone to come up with a better recording of Tallis. I'm sure you will come up lacking.

Summary - get yourself a good stereo, get this CD, get an hour's free time, and marvel.

Track Listings: