Early Music Choral Recordings

Cambridge Singers : Lighten Our Darkness: Music for the Close of Day

Review: The service of Compline is the last of the seven daily services observed in monastic communities, taking place immediately before bedtime. This CD gathers together 18 of the many lovely a cappella choral motets, mainly from the Renaissance period, which were written to adorn the evening worship of the church. Composers featured include William Byrd, Orlando de Lassus, John Sheppard and others. In some traditions it became the custom to include a Motet of the Virgin Mary within Compline. Here we have four examples by de Victoria and a beautiful Ave Maria by Rachmaninov. The Cambridge Singers, directed by John Rutter, sing as well as ever and the clear and cool acoustic of the Lady Chapel at Ely Cathedral make it the perfect setting for Compline. In addition there is a 22 minute bonus disc in which the Office of Compline, sung in English with its traditional chants, is given in its entirety with John Harte as Reader and Simon Wall as Precentor.

Songlist: In Pace, Libera Nos, Salva Nos, Justorum Animae, Pastor Noster, O Lord, The Maker Of All Thing, Visita, Quaesumus Domine, Abendlied, O Christ Who Art The Light And Day, O Gladsome Light, Te Lucis Ante Terminum, Alma Redemptoris Mater, Ave Regina Caelorum, Regina Caeli Laetare, Ave Maria, Bogoroditsye Dyevo, In Manus Tuas, In Manus Tuas

Tallis Scholars : Palestrina: The Tallis Scholars Sing Palestrina

Review: Palestrina is the composer The Tallis Scholars have sung and recorded most frequently and this two discs set contains some of the best, in their view, recordings from the very first record they made commercially (in 1980), to one of the most recent. In general they have concentrated on his Mass settings not least because they make such effective concert music. Palestrina had an unusual ability to write positive, outward-going, major-key music which, over the length of a Mass-setting, is a great strength: penitential writing tends to be more effective in shorter bursts. Three of the four settings in this collection rely on bright sonorities; the fourth - Sicut lilium - is more subdued and sensuous, as the words of the motet require. The Missa Assumpta est Maria, based on his own motet of that name which in turn is based on a short phrase of chant, is a classic example of sonorous Palestrina, its excitement achieved in large part by doubling the sopranos and tenors. The brighter sound this high-scored six-voice (SSATTB) choir produces is then emphasized in the style of the writing, which is more chordal than usual. The parody motet Assumpta est Maria shows the way in its opening bars: the three upper voices are grouped against the three lower ones in easily audible antiphony. This late-Renaissance method is then transferred to the Mass, most obviously in the Gloria and Credo but also in the first Kyrie, where greater elaboration was more customary. The sheer verve of this music has ensured that, along with Papae Marcelli, Assumpta est Maria has remained the most performed of all Palestrina's 107 Mass-settings. The second disc opens with a six-voice (SSATTB) set of Lamentations, originally the third lesson on the Saturday of Holy Week. The Missa Brevis (for four voices SATB), although relatively 'short' and straightforward in musical style, shows Palestrina's idiom at its most accessible.

Songlist: Assumpta est Maria in caelum, Missa Assumpta est Maria in caelum, Sicut lilum iner spinas I, Missa Sicut inter spinas, Lamentations for Holy Saturday (Lesson 3, 6vv), Missa Brevis, Missa Papae Marcelli

Tallis Scholars : Requiem

Review: Gimell presents a new release in their popular 2-for-1 series featuring The Tallis Scholars, this time focusing on the Requiem Mass. Conductor Peter Phillips says of this sublime music, "From the split second that the opening Requiem aeternam chant is heard, every listener is inevitably transported. It is a classic instance of the power of music to communicate without reserve." Requiem is offered in a deluxe slipcase package, and includes a a 24 page booklet. This set offers 155 minutes of glorious listening, and would make a perfect gift for any fan of choral music.

Songlist: Introitus: Requiem aeternam, Kyrie, Graduale, Offertorium: Domine Iesu Christe, Sanctus & Benedictus, Agnus Dei I, II & III, Communio: Lux aeterna, Responsory: Libera me, Versa est in luctum, Introitus, Kyrie, Graduale, Sequentia pro defunctis, Offertorium, Sanctus & Benedictus, Requiem for six voices, Communio: Lux aeterna, Responsorium pro defunctis, Introitus, Kyrie, Graduale, Offertorium, Sanctus & Benedictus, Agnus Dei I, II & III, Communio, Responsorium: Libera me, Non mortui, Sitivit anima mea, Mulier quae erat, Nos autem gloriari, and more

Tallis Scholars : Sing Flemish Masters

Review: The Flemish masters have been at the heart of The Tallis Scholars' repertoire from the beginning, just as they were at the heart of the whole Renaissance musical scene. Masses were the showcase works through which these composers displayed their most sophisticated achievements. This new Gimell 2-for-1 set features five of the greatest, from five of the greatest masters, Brumel, De Rore, Lassus, Ockeghem and Isaac, specially selected by conductor Peter Phillips.

Songlist: Missa De Apostolis, Missa Au Travail Sus, Missa Osculeture me for double choir, Missa Praeter rerum seriem, Missa Et ecce terrae motus

Oxford New College Choir : Renaissance Masterpieces

Review: For such transcendent music to succeed, it has to be performed with sufficient technical prowess. This the Choir commands, and they add to it under Higginbottom's direction, a full realisation of the unparalled range of expression at Pucell's command.

Songlist: Aurora lucis rutilat, Tristis est anima mea, Missa "Tous les regretz", Ave Verum, Surgens Jesus, Timor et tremor, Domine convertere, Salve Regina, Veni Creator, Veni sancta spirtus, Requiem, Ave Maria, Ave Virgo gloriosa, Salve Regina, Christe, qui lux es, Victimae Paschalis, Victimae Paschalis, Magnificat, Dum complerentur, Stabat Mater, Alma Redemptoris, Recordare, Ad te levavi, Veni sancta spiritus, Miserere, Peccavi super numerum, Missa "Si ambulavero", Super flumina Babylonis, Domine, quid multiplicati sunt, Spes humani generis, and more

Knud Jeppesen : Counterpoint - Polyphonic Vocal Style of the 16th Century

Review: The classic introductory text focuses on the polyphonic vocal style perfected by Palestrina. Unlike many other texts, it maintains a careful balance between theoretical and practical problems, between historical and systematic methodology. The result is an exceptional useful resource, ideal for classroom use in teaching modal counterpoint. The first part of the book explores the beginning of contrapuntal theory from the ninth to the fourteenth century. This is followed by separate discussions of each succeeding century, the styles of Palestrina and Bach and ends with a section illuminating coverage of notation, the ecclesiastical modes, melody and harmony. The second part of the book contains an extended treatment of "species" counterpoint in two, three and four parts and specific discussions of the cannon, the motet and the Mass.

Songlist: Preface, Outline History of Contrapuntal Theory, Technical Features, Two-Part Counterpoint, Three-Part Counterpoint, Four-Part Counterpoint, Counterpoint in More Than Four Parts, The Canon, The Motet, The Mass

I Fagiolini : The Full Monteverdi

Review: One of the most moving collections of Renaissance vocal music brought to life as a contemporary drama specifically for the screen. Claudio Monteverdi's Fourth book of Madrigals (1603) explores differing emotional states of abandoned lovers through the most dramatic and amazingly modern music for vocal ensemble. The Full Monteverdi follows the simultaneous break-up of six couples, from shocking revelation, vengeful anger and erotic longing for reconciliation, as an ensemble film. Vulnerable and disarming, it draws viewers into its emotional journey and intensely moving portrait of contemporary love. Seated in a restaurant, the six couples begin to quarrel over dinner. Onlookers are drawn to the interactions of their fellow diners, yet also wary of their invasive gaze, as the relationships fragment before their eyes. The couples fight over moments in the past, then reflect on better times and unrealised dreams. Ultimately, the six (singing) lovers are left to contemplate life alone. The film takes place over an evening and following morning, with several scenes shot as flashback, giving viewers the back-story to the lovers' downfall. The film is sung throughout.

Songlist: Ah! Dolente Partita, Cor mio, Mentre vi Miro, Cor mio, non mori? E mori!, Sfogava con le stelle, Volgea L' Anima Mia Soabement, Anima Mia Perdona, Luci serene e chiare, La piaga c'ho nel core, Voi Pur Da Me Partite, A Un Giro Sol, Ohime, se tanto amate, lo mi son giovinetta, Quell' Augellin, che canta, Non Piu Guerra, Pietate, Si Ch'io vorrei morire, Anima Dolorosa che vivendo, Anima del cor mio, Longe da te, cor mio, Piagn'e sospira

Tallis Scholars : Byrd - Playing Elizabeth's Tune

Review: Focusing on the life and works of William Byrd, this DVD has a playing time of over 3 hours and includes filmed performances by The Tallis Scholars, a documentary on the composer and over 50 minutes of bonus audio tracks. The filmed performances feature over 70 minutes of sacred music by Elizabeth I's favourite composer including the Mass for 4 Voices and Ave verum corpus. It is performed by candlelight in the beautiful surrounds of Tewkesbury Abbey and recorded in genuine surround sound. In a seventy-minute documentary produced for the BBC, Charles Hazlewood further explores the life and music of William Byrd and the troubled times that produced some of the most intimate and passionate sacred music ever written. Bonus audio tracks including Byrd's Mass for 5 voices and Mass for 3 voices result in the complete audio recordings of Byrd's Masses being available on this one DVD.

Songlist: Mass For 4 Voices, Ave verum corpus, Diffusa est gratia, Magnificat, Ne irascaris, Nunc dimittis, O Make Thy Servant, Elizabeth, Prevent Us, O Lord, Tristitia et Anxietas, Vigilate, Mass For 5 Voices, Mass for 3 Voices, Tribune Domine

Tallis Scholars : Live In Rome

Review: Peter Phillips and The Tallis Scholars celebrated Palestrina's 400th anniversary with a unique concert in the Roman Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore where the composer sang as a choirboy and later became maestro di cappella. The concert was filmed for release on Video and has now been re-edited especially for this DVD release. There are 2 presentations of the same concert, an illustrated performance featuring the priceless artworks in the Basilica which are used to illuminate the sung texts, and a pure performance that is 100% Tallis Scholars. Optional captions name the artworks and describe the context in which they are used and sub-titles provide translations of the sung Latin into English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese. The concert includes a performance of Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli together with the Stabat mater, Alma redemptoris mater, Surge illuminaire, Magnificat Primi toni and the 8-part Nunc dimittis. There is also a stunning performance of Allegri's Miserere with Deborah Roberts as the soprano soloist

Songlist: Missa Papae Marcelli, Sabat Mater, Alma redemptoris mater, Surge, illuminaire, Magnificat Primi toni, Allegri Miserere

John Leavitt : The Madrigal Singer

Review: John Leavitt has established a reputation for carefully selecting important and historic repertoire, editing it in ways to make singers successful, all while staying true to the stylistic period. This new collection includes Fair Phyllis I Saw (John Farmer), Weep, O Mine Eyes (John Bennet), All Lust und Freud, Tanzen und Springen (Hans Leo Hassler), Il est bel et bon (Pierre Passereau), Tant que vivray (Claudin de Sermisy), Fa una canzona (Orazio Vecchi) and Bonzorno madonna (Antonio Scandello). A value-priced collection of important and standard works.

Huelgas Ensemble : 40 Voices

Review: While the latter half of the sixteenth century saw the first stirrings of the Baroque, this period also witnessed the creation of the finest cathedrals in sound, with their foundations in the distant Gothic era of music . . . Composers vied with each other in daring and ingenuity, presenting works with twelve, sixteen, twenty-four and even, in the case of Tallis's famous Spem in alium, forty different voices! The Huelgas Ensemble celebrates its thirty-fifth anniversary with a spectacular selection of these works.

Songlist: Nomen mortis infame, Gloria, Qui habitat, Jesus autem / Credo in Deum, Ecce beatam lucem, En venant de Lyon, Lauda Jerusalem, Exaudi me Domine, Spem in alium

King's Singers : Tallis: Spem In Alium

Review: "Spem in alium," not just the greatest of Tallis's compositions but one of the greatest of all time, is based on a liturgical text, written for 40 independent voices, and was first performed in England in 1573. A work for 40 voices is not one that would usually be associate with the legendary all male sextet The King's Singers. Through modern recording technology, flexibility and experimentation, the six have become 40, a true harmonic convergence that occurs when the pairs high, sweet voices throw the sound across the space between them until finally all voices join for a full culmination of the work. "Spem" is a stunningly beautiful piece, although very short, eight minutes and 22 seconds to be precise, and we listened to it several times to truly appreciate it. The piece is followed by a 6-minute interview with the Singers, who discuss the experience of recording it. A short sublimely beautiful piece, recorded by one of the world's finest choral ensembles. SACD

Songlist: Spem in AliumThomas Tallis, Interview with the King's Singers

Nordic Voices : Reges Terrae

Review: Nordic Voices have put together a unique collection of pieces by sixteenth-century composers associated with the courts of Emperor Charles V, a great musical enthusiast. Superbly sung by these Norwegians, the works draw attention to a highly varied group of sought-after composers, whose careers often followed a colourful course. During the first half of the sixteenth century, there was no greater a ruler than the Emperor Charles V, whose court was lavishly supplied with music by composers of high talent. Charles had a personal enthusiasm for music, and his chapel was more or less in constant attendance on his travels. It is small wonder, then, that a number of the greatest composers of the age had some connection with him, including the Franco-Flemish composers Manchicourt, Cristobal de Morales and Nicolas Gombert. Complementing these composers are the perhaps less well-known Guerrero and Jacobus Clemens non Papa. This superb collection confirms these composers as major figures of their era, and will serve as a perfect introduction to the music of the period. Their performance is smart and stylish, employing a playful yet sophisticated approach that enhances their already remarkable singing.

Songlist: Reges terrae, Regina caeli, Laudate Dominum, O magnum mysterium, Hei mihi, Domine, Ego sum qui sum, O Virgo virginum, Exaltata est sancta Dei Genitrix, Agnus Dei (from Missa 'Reges terrae')

Stile Antico : Heavenly Harmonies

Review: Grammy-nominated vocal ensemble Stile Antico returns with its second recording for harmonia mundi. Heavenly Harmonies juxtaposes the highly expressive Latin motets of William Byrd (c. 1540-1632) with the austere, homophonic psalm tunes of Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585) in a performance notable for the British group's "staggeringly beautiful singing" (The Sunday Times) and recorded in a fittingly majestic acoustic. At the heart of the religious disputes which ravaged 16th-century England, the towering figures of the Catholic Tallis and Protestant Byrd embody two opposing tendencies. What is sometimes overlooked is how much the motets from Byrd's Cantiones sacrae I and II (1589 and 1591) owe to the concise and expressive language pioneered by Tallis a generation earlier, when he also contributed the nine psalm tunes to a new psalter by Archbishop Matthew Parker (1567) - printed but regrettably never offered for sale. The program also includes Byrd's Mass Propers for Pentecost from his Gradualia of 1607.

Songlist: 9 Psalm Tunes for Archbishop Parker's Psalter, Motets:, Third Tune: Why fum'th in Flight, Vigilate, Fifth Tune: E'en Like the Hunted Hind, Ne irascaris Domine, Second Tune: Let God arise, Exsurge Domine, Sixth Tune: Expend, O Lord, Infelix ego, Eighth Tune: God grant with grace, Laetentur Coeli, First Tune: Man blest no doubt, Quis est homo, Veni Creator: Come Holy Ghost, Introit: Spiritus Domini, Offertory: Confirma hoc Deus, Communion: Factus est repente, Seventh Tune: Why brag'st in malice, Tribulationes Civitatum, Fourth Tune: O Come in One to Praise the Lord, Laudibus in Sanctis

Stile Antico : Puer Natus Est - Tudor Music for Advent and Christmas

Review: Stile Antico's program centers on Thomas Tallis's magnificent seven-part Christmas Mass, based on the festive plainchant Puer natus est ('A boy is born'). The mass is interspersed with seasonal Tudor music, including William Byrd's exquisite Propers for the fourth Sunday of Advent, responsories by Taverner and Sheppard, Robert White's exuberant setting of the Magnificat, and Tallis's own sublime Videte miraculum.

Songlist: Videte miraculum, Audivi vocem de caelo, Rorate caeli desuper (Gradualia I, 1605), Gloria (Missa Puer natus est), Tollite portas (Gradualia I), Sanctus & Benedictus (Missa puer natus est), Ave Maria (Gradualia I), Agnus Dei (Missa Puer natus est), Ecce virgo concipiet (Gradualia I), Magnificat, Puer natus est, Verbum caro

Audrey Snyder : Welcome One and Welcome All - A Festive Processional

Review: Set in a buoyant medieval style, this lively original by Audrey Snyder is the perfect opener for your madrigal dinner or concert performance. Accompany with recorder, cello, hand drum or finger cymbals or a variety of other options for a festive processional.

Sheet Music Available: 2-Part

Franz Joseph Haydn : The Heavens Are Telling

Review: Here is the jubilant movement from Haydn's The Creation newly engraved in print and digital editions and with part-predominant reheearsal tracks. Available separately: SATB, VoiceTrax CD. Duration: ca. 4:25.

Sheet Music Available: SAB

G.F. Handel : And the Glory of the Lord

Review: The G. Schirmer edition of the beloved chorus from Messiah, now in a newly engraved edition, is an important part of every choral library and is now available with a VoiceTrax CD, which features part-predominant rehearsal tracks. Available separately: SATB, VoiceTrax CD. Duration: ca. 3:20.

Sheet Music Available: SAB

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina : Sicut Cervus

Review: One of the masterworks of 16th Century sacred music, this elegant motet offers a deeply emotional experience as the phrases unfold in a rich outpouring of sound. Available separately: SATB, VoiceTrax CD. Duration: ca. 2:00.

Sheet Music Available: SATB,   SATB

Johannes Brahms : How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place

Review: Newly engraved, this is the classic G. Schirmer edition now with English and German texts. Available separately, the VoiceTrax CD features a full performance with vocals, full orchestra accompaniment and individual part-predominant tracks to assist in rehearsal and individual practice. Duration: ca. 5:45.

Sheet Music Available: SATB,   SATB