In Celebration of the Human Voice - The Essential Musical Instrument

Early Music Choral Recordings

Much of the earliest music was composed for the unaccompanied voice reaching a peak during the Renaissance when there was flowering of talented European composers. Many of these composers were true musical geniuses and whose work is still vibrant and relevant today. We offer here a far ranging collection of these works performed by the top vocal ensembles from both Europe and the US.

Displaying 101-108 of 108 items.

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

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

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