This new Hyperion recording celebrates the 500th anniversary of the birth of England’s first superstar composer, Thomas Tallis, and welcomes the signing to the label of The Cardinall’s Musick and Andrew Carwood. Over the group’s fifteen-year history, The Cardinall’s Musick has built an enviable reputation for excellence. Some twenty recordings on the ASV Gaudeamus label have seen accolades from around the world, including a Gramophone Award and a Diapason d’Or, while in the concert hall and workshop the group has consistently displayed innovation and a freshness of approach, whether tackling contemporary works (many of them commissions) or sharing the fruits of years of research into the music of the English Renaissance. On their debut recording for Hyperion, The Cardinall’s Musick turns to the period of its namesake, Cardinal Wolsey, and specifi cally to the music of Thomas Tallis. Gaude gloriosa takes center stage. One of a series of monumental and extended motets (each lasting getting on for twenty minutes), this should be regarded as the summation of the genre - whereas Tallis’s earlier attempts such as Salve intemerata or Ave Dei Patris fi lia can seem to ramble somewhat, in Gaude gloriosa we find a sure-footed and eloquent response to an unusual text in honor of the Virgin Mary, and a work which takes singer and listener alike into a world of unremitting fervor. Other works on this recording include the famous Loquebantur variis linguis and O nata lux settings, the five-voice Latin Magnificat and Nunc dimittis. Of special note is the Suscipe quaeso Domine - where a particularly gloomy text (thought to have been written to mark England’s reconciliation with Rome on the accession of Mary Tudor) elicits from Tallis some truly extraordinary and rhetorical effects including harmonic shifts which are every bit as shocking today as they must have been at the work’s first performance in 1554. Future plans for The Cardinall’s Musick on Hyperion include the completion of their on-going series encompassing the complete Latin church music of William Byrd.

Chicago a cappella’s sparkling new studio recording features an exciting collection of beloved music from the ensemble's first decade. Recorded at Chicago’s WFMT Studios by Grammy-nominated engineer Christopher Willis, Eclectric includes brilliant new choral works, familiar favorites, and vocal jazz.

This is the third disc recorded by The Clerks' Group for their Signum Records trilogy. The series explores repertoire in the medieval period and culminates with a selection of works by Guillaume Dufay, found in one of the great anthologies of 15th century music: the manuscript Bologna, Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale, MS Q15 (or "Q15" as it is known by its friends).The Q15 manuscript contains examples of almost every conceivable musical genre of the period by a vast array of composers. The Clerks' Group has chosen to perform works by a single composer, but still the variety of forms and styles on offer is bewildering. Guillaume Dufay was a composer who witnessed and contributed to most of the revolutionary changes to occur in music composition in the 15th century. The album includes some of the earlier works so often neglected from Dufay's repertoire, and goes on to explore compositions that demonstrate this revolutionary genius. Some compositional techniques celebrated by The Clerks' Group's performance include the playful exchange of Dufay's song-like melodies between the vocal lines; and the use of mensural canon, where the same melody is sung by all voices but at slightly different speeds. These are just a few examples of the radical nature of Dufay's music as demonstrated on this recording. The Clerks' Group brings immense diversity to the music and its performance. Their refreshing approach displays sincere empathy and passion for this astonishing repertory.

Scotland's world-class consort sings a program of American contemporaries, Samuel Barber and Aaron Copland. Barber's comfortable use of the traditional and Copland's drive to create an original American music meet in the fact that each composer used word settings of poetry and literature as the basis from which to express their instinctive feel for the human voice. Copland's "In the Beginning" and "Four Motets for a cappella" create a natural audio bracketing of Barbers' "Reincarnations," "The Virgin Martyrs," and the 1936 setting of Emily Dickinson's "Let Down the Bars, O Death." The singing is incomparable!

Six contemporary Scottish-based composers come together in this new Mass setting performed by the award-winning Dunedin Consort. Composers Malcolm Lindsay, Christine McCombe, Tommy Fowler, John Gormley, Anthea Haddow and Rebecca Rowe were each commissioned by the Dunedin Consort to set a movement of the Latin Mass to music. Each of the six sections of the Mass is divided into three parts: a plainsong performance of the appropriate chant, the composer’s liturgical setting for a cappella choir, and a secular setting based on a text of the composer’s choice for a soloist from the Dunedin Consort. Polychoral pieces interweave with harp-accompanied songs in a spiritual work that achieves unity in diversity.

Here is another excellent record by the Finzi Singers in a series which is proving as valuable as anything in the current lists. They have standards in their choice of music as in their manner of performance, and everything they have undertaken in their recordings has been in a tradition of good workmanship and good taste. This present programme, with its alternation of works by Howells and Vaughan Williams, illustrates the individuality of both composers as well as the shared possession of a culture deeply loved and richly imbued. All are finely caught in these performances, not least the aeroplanes in Harry Bickett's imaginative registration and skilful playing. Choral tone, the work of soloists drawn from the choir, recorded sound, written presentation, all are admirable features of a highly recommendable disc.

This is another in a series of Christian church choral works of relatively unknown British composers, performed by the 20-strong mixed choral group founded and directed by Paul Spicer. Sir William Walton lived on the island of Ischia, near Naples, Italy, in a lush, subtropical house and grounds, created by his wife Susana and himself, who had no children and made the estate and Walton's music their life's work. 18 of Walton's finest works are presented here, some with full, magnificent organ behind the voices, some a cappella--all have stature, be it an exquisite miniature like "Set Me as a Seal upon thine Heart," or a major score like "The Twelve," surely, with "Where does the Uttered Music Go?" his two finest works. There are 4 lovely Christmas carols, "Make we joy now in this Fest," "What Cheer?," "King Herod and the Cock" and "All this time." The Singers do seemingly effortless justice to some difficult, demanding work by this surprising, mostly self-taught British genius. All lyrics and information are in the extensive liner notes.

As directed by Paul Spicer, this English mixed ensemble has devoted themselves to the promulgation of British choral works. The relatively obscure Gustav Holst composed during the turn of the century, whereas Vaughan Williams began his career slightly later, by collecting English folk songs, ultimately accumulating over eight hundred! Later, Williams wrote various pieces for royal occasions and the like, such as "The Souls Of The Righteous" to dedicate the Battle Of Britain chapel. Sometimes dark and mournful ("Valiant For Truth"), hearty and powerful ("Sing Me The Men"), eerie and captivating ("Full Fathom Five") or gentle and pure ("O Lady, Leave That Silken Thread"), this collection is always uncompromised in excellence.

The Italian madrigals are some of the most exquisite vocal works ever written. This is the music found in Giovan Tomaso LambertiniÜs first book of madrigals. They are fifteen stanzas by Messer Bernado Tasso composed in 1544, during the poets period of residence in northern Europe with the patronage of the prince of Salerno. While other composers set some of the stanzas to music, Giovan adorned all fifteen of them with music and completed the works in his first book with six poetic works by the composer himself. It was published in 1560, the same year as some of BernadoÜs most important works. Experience this beautiful music for four voices created by various groupings of the Fortuna Ensemble, conducted by Roberto Cascio.

Andrew Rindfleisch (b. 1963) is an internationally active composer, conductor, and pianist whose work continues to gain consistent critical and popular acclaim. A leading composer of his generation, he has produced dozens of works for the concert hall, including solo, chamber, vocal, choral, orchestral, and wind music. His committed interest in other forms of music-making have also led him to the composition and performance of jazz and related forms of improvisation. As a composer, Mr. Rindfleisch has been awarded many prestigious honors in recognition of his work. He is the 1997-98 recipient of the coveted Rome Prize and in 1996 received a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. Most recently, he received the 2002 Cleveland Arts Prize, the 2001 Aaron Copland Award, and the 2000 Koussevitzky Foundation Commission from the Library of Congress. He has also been the recipient of over thirty-five other prizes and awards, including those from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Fromm Foundation, ASCAP, and the League of Composers-ISCM. He has participated in dozens of renowned music festivals and has received residency fellowships from the Charles Ives Center for American Music, the Czech-American Music Institute in Prague, the June in Buffalo Contemporary Music Festival, the MacDowell Colony, and the Pierre Boulez Workshop at Carnegie Hall, among others. Mr. Rindfleisch holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin at Madison (Bachelor of Music), the New England Conservatory of Music (Master of Music), and Harvard University (PhD)

This beautifully crafted CD is a joy. The group Pomerium was founded in 1972 by Alexander Blachly with the purpose of performing "virtuoso chapel choirs of the Renaissance." The "Musical Book of Hours" is a concept record-an accompaniment to the medieval religious texts of the 13th to 16th centuries, and features works by Desprez, Ockeghem, and Du Fay. The fifteen-voice mixed group sings these gentle and fluid melodies with a delicacy and grace that caresses the ear, as well as the spirit. The detailed liner notes include several exquisite reproductions of the artwork from the period.

One of the world's leading a cappella vocal ensembles, Pomerium, presents brilliant performances of works by one of the most extraordinary composers of the Renaissance. American Record Guide (USA) stated that "the performances are exemplary in their clarity, beauty of balance, stylistic sensitivity, and sincerity of feeling."

Dazzling Eastern European polyphony featuring the antiphonal glory of Polish Renaissance composer Mikolaj Zielenski, the strength of the Russian Orthodox Liturgy with 12-part writing from Baroque master Vasily Titov, and the commissioned “hit," Bogoroditse Devo, Raduysia," by Minnesota composer, Sergey Khvoshchinskiy.

The Rose Ensemble's holiday recording features music from medieval and Renaissance Poland and Czechoslovakia, including motets from the Prague manuscript Codex Specialnik and several lovely spiritual songs extolling the virtues of various Slavic saints and heroes. The Rose Ensemble, based in Minneapolis/St. Paul, handles this material with great skill and grace. Their vocal tone is bright yet warm, and their articulation is clear and crisp. This is interesting music from a part of the world we've just begun to explore. This music is at once familiar and exotic.

The Dutch quintet presents the a cappella compositions of contemporary composers. However, we hasten to add, the change in the compositions from a traditional liturgical feeling into definite contemporary music with suspended, shimmering dissonances and stark textures is so gradual that we find ourselves attending the works with a beguiled fascination. The composers are four of the most notable Dutch composers of this century, Ton de Leeuw, Robert Heppener, Daan Manneke and Huub Kerstens. The liturgical tradition is represented by Ton de Leeuw's "Missa Brevis" about which he says: "My purpose was to compose a work close to the Roman Catholic liturgical tradition of plainchant and early Renaissance polyphony, and whose music is a more collective spiritual experience than the subjective expression of the individual." On the other end of the spectrum we have music written specifically for the ensemble which is receiving its world recording premiere. You must hear this recording for it has some of the most original vocal work ever found to emerge from a western vocal sensibility.

The Madrigal sprang from Italy in the early 16th Century, as the poetry of Petrarch fused with secular polyphony. This enjoyable collection starts with the much-imitated work of Cipriano de Rore from 1550, and follows madrigal evolution through Giches de Wert, Claudio Monteverdi, Alessandro Scarlatti and finally Alessandro Stradella. Beautifully sung, with ample liner notes.

Towards the end of the 16th Century, Italian music permeated previously insular England and created a fervid outpouring of madrigals. This recording includes some of the "greatest hits" from this 40-year boom, organized by composer: Morley ("Now is the month of Maying"), Pilington, Tomkins, Bateson, Byrd, Farmer, Wilbye and Weekles. Quink is an accomplished mixed quintet, and their interpretations with a single voice per part reflect the madrigal tradition as chamber music.

Folk music is difficult to define. Generally speaking, it is music which grew in communities with enough tradition to have a need to link the past with the present. Each generation, indeed, each performer will modify it slightly to suit their own needs and times. Among other reasons for the continuation of their memory and performance from generation to generation,they provide historical recollection, cautionary tales, humorous and dramatic stories and an accompaniment to dancing. Quink Vocal Ensemble (three women and two men) have applied their five exquisitely trained voices to recording a selection of folk songs from all over the world. Often they will end with lighter arrangements of folk tunes after performances which include Renaissance, Baroque, Romantic, Impressionistic and contemporary music. Songs from Israel, Scotland, England, Newfoundland, U. S., U.S.S.R., Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Germany, France and Spain are included in the twenty-five songs.

Derric Johnson and his "Voices of Liberty," eight of whose best and most experienced members became ReGeneration, toured nationally for 12 years, performing 6,000 live performances for 12 million people. In a recording encore, one of the most beloved and respected choral ensembles of all time comes back to blow us away with 10 Contemporary Christian tunes and favorite hymns. "Have You Met Jesus," "The Old Rugged Cross," "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name," "In The Presence/Surely The Presence," "For All My Sin," the traditional spiritual "David and Goliath," "Moment by Moment," "O The Deep, Deep Love of Jesus," "Ho, Every One That is Thirsty in Spirit" and "Midnight Cry"—this is a powerful, inspirational collection of wonderful songs, with Derric Johnson's arrangements and direction, by his hand-picked mixed ensemble. What could be better?

Listen to All Hail The Power of Jesus Name in Real Audio

Showcasing works from the preeminent composers of Western classical music, such as Schubert, Vivaldi and Bach, this recording is a compilation drawn from Robert Shaw's vast canon. Mr. Shaw, who recently died, was one of the most famous and recognized choral directors of modern day, and his association with the Atlanta Symphony and Chorus was a prolific one. These accompanied selections, on sacred and religious themes, are grand, dramatic and ornate. One of the most affecting is Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis: Gloria," which captures the intense emotion that heralded the beginning of the Romantic era.

Path of Miracles, for a cappella choir, was commissioned by Tenebrae from Joby Talbot and premiered last year. The work is based on the most enduring route of Catholic pilgrimage - the great Pilgramage to Santiago. The four movements of Path of Miracles are titled with the names of the four main staging posts of the 'Camino Frances': I Roncesvalles; II Burgos; III Leon; IV Santiago. The 'Camino Frances' s the central axis of a network of pilgrimage routes to Santiago. Talbot's music has been performed by, amongst others, the London Sinfonietta, The BBC Symphony Orchestra, The Brunel Ensemble, Evelyn Glennie and The Duke Quartet. In addition, Talbot also writes for the big and small screen. Credits include, The League of Gentlemen and The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy.Tenebrae, founded and directed by former King's Singer Nigel Short, is a professional vocal ensemble, whose motto is passion and precision. Tenebrae has built an impressive reputation for innovative and memorable performances throughout the UK and Europe..

This release takes its title from a new work written especially for the choir by Sir John Tavener. Mother and Child has a unique and personal history inspired- by one of the Tenebrae members' children. Playing in the garden, Samual McCosh and his mother Susan caught the eye of a visiting friend, poet Brian Keeble. The picture of mother and child in close union with one another so enchanted him that he began to write a poem based on that image. The resulting poem caught the attention of Sir John Tavener who, on reading it decided to set it to music and to dedicate it to Tenebrae. In its short existence, Tenebrae has made a considerable impact on the musical world with fresh and vital re-interpretations of classic works in the choral repertoire. On this recording, innovatory and lesser-known repertoire is drawn from contemporary sources. Alongside Mother and Child, this release features four further world-premiere recordings by composers Francis Pott, Alexander L'Estrange and Jeremy Filsell. Within this individual collection of choral music, which also includes works by Jonathan Dove, Richard Rodney Bennett and Giles Swayne, Tenebrae continues to chart out a new territory, which is rapidly establishing it as one of the most exciting choirs of our time.

The Trapp Family Singers made famous in the movie "The Sound of Music" were an actual group that were fortunately able to escape the Nazis by arranging an American tour, leaving behind their home and all that remained of their wealth. They toured and recorded in the US for another decade and a half, and founded the Trapp Family Music Camp in Stowe, VT., at a lodge that is still run by the family today. The CD, the third in our catalog (following the excellent "The Original Trapp Family Singers" and "The Sound of Christmas") begins with 6 tunes sung in English, "Ev'ry Year Brings Something New," "The Farmer's Boy," "Waltzing Matilda," "The Lone Prairie," "An Eriskay Love Lilt" and "Early One Morning;" before continuing with German and Austrian tunes, "In einem kuhlen Grunde," Kuckuck hat sich zu Tod gefallen," "Innsbruck, ich muss dich lassen," Es wollt ein Jagerlein jagen," "Auf der Alm," "Spinn, spinn Marie" and many others, 23 in all. Occasional instrumental music. An inspiring story, and inspiring music sung by this talented, deservedly famous family!

A beautiful disc of (mostly) World Premiere recordings, this first-ever CD to be devoted solely to the choral music of Edmund Rubbra. The earliest are the Five Motets of 1934, settings of 16th century metaphysical poems. It was madrigalist Thomas Campion whose poems provided the basis for two delightful sets of Madrigals, and charming too are the group of four simple Carols. It is for his liturgical music that Rubbra is perhaps best known today, and the four substantial works included here demonstrate why. There is his largest a cappella piece, Lauda Sion, a magnificent Aquinas setting, plus his second setting of The Beatitudes. Two settings of the mass are featured, his third, written in medieval style, and his fifth. This is the focal point of the whole collection, the Mass in Honour of St Teresa of Avila of 1981 which was Rubbra's last major choral work, and summarises the composer's mature harmonic language.

Voces Cantabiles Music is a British Educational Foundation, led by Artistic Director Barnaby Smith and an elite team of 19 professional performance artists, teachers, facilitators and workshop leaders that maintains 4 ensembles, Voces Cantabiles, Voces Cantabiles Youth Choir, the Senesino Players, a professional chamber orchestra, and Voces8, a professional a cappella vocal octet. "Snowed In" is a finely-crafted Christmas collection of 17 songs by these 6 young men and 2 women singers, founded in 2003 by ex-choristers of Westminster Abbey. With a repertoire ranging from 13th century polyphony to new jazz arrangements, the group has toured extensively in Europe, winning first prizes at International Grand Prix in Goriza and at the European Grand Prix in Spain, for both the sacred and secular categories. Favorites are standards "I Saw Three Ships," "The Boar's Head Carol," "Good King Wenceslas," "Gabriel's Message," "The Twelve Days of Christmas," "Ding Dong Merrily on High," "The Holly and the Ivy," "I Wonder as I Wander" and "In the Bleak Midwinter," but the fresh, clean sound of this talented group makes every selection a winner. Treat your family and friends to "Snowed In," one of the best Christmas recordings of the year!

Listen to "Ding Dong Merrily on High" in Real Audio.

One Voice
Power In Praisin' The Lord
He Looked Beyond My Fault
Mercy Seat
Everyone Who Is Thirsty
Lord, I Lift Your Name On High
All That Thrills My Soul
When God Dips His Soul
The Old Rugged Cross
Have You Met Jesus?
Mercy Seat

The 18 mixed voices of Cleveland, TN-based Lee University's Voices of Lee, directed by Danny Murray, have a lush musical style noted for its excellence in harmony, spirit and performance. Since their debut in 1994, this Contemporary Christian a cappella group has delighted audiences worldwide with a repertoire of high-energy patriotic numbers, and heartfelt gospel favorites. "In God’s Hands" is their fifth excellent CD. Nine songs: a beautifully arranged version of "How Great Thou Art," "More Than Wonderful," "Golden Stair," the dramatic "Jesus, The One and Only," the lovely title tune (light piano accompaniment), the inspirational "Dream On," the prophetic "Midnight Cry," and "He Giveth More Grace." Soaring solos, powerful harmonies and message–it adds up to another winner for Voices of Lee. Recommended.

Cleveland, Tennessee's Lee University boasts one of the finest 14-voice mixed Contemporary Christian choruses we've heard, the Voices of Lee, directed by Danny Murray. Songs include "I Will Follow Christ," "Lift Him Up," Derric Johnson's "I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked" and "Battle Hymn," "Let There Be Peace On Earth," "Keep Believing," "There's Not A Crown Without A Cross" and "Jesus, What A Wonderful Child." The 14 voices give the harmonic power of a chorus while still allowing the brilliance of individual voices to be highlighted‚and amazing, strong, vibrant, soaring voices they are. An inspirational, exceptional CD both spiritually and musically!

The fourth from the award-winning, internationally-acclaimed mixed quintet (3 men, two women) Voz en Punto, and it's as spirited and juicy as we have come to expect from Voz. Beginning with the title tune and "La Negra," "Copitas'" song selection concentrates on the group's forte, crazy, silly, manic, romantic Mexican songs, some accompanied by a string ensemble. Our favorites of course are the a cappella numbers, like "La Bruja," "No Volvere," and "El Sinaloense." Voz en Punto's sound is as crisp and clean as they come, and they get into some marvelously fast Mexican "scat" singing that boggles the mind. "Copitas is big, fat, south of the border fun from beginning to end. Enjoy!

Listen to La Bruja in Real Audio.

In Mexican slang, "del tingo al tango" means to go "from pillar to post" without stopping, a phrase that seems to sum up mixed quintet Voz en Punto's career in many ways. From its founding by director Jose Galvan in 1990, the ensemble has focused its artistic energy on the colorful arena of Mexican culture, from Mexican colonial polyphony from the 16^th and 17^th centuries to songs in native tongues and/or with African influences, up to the folklore and music of living Mexican concert composers. The group has also presented programs of European composers, including motets and madrigals, Latin-American bossa novas and tangos, and negro spirituals. To quote the group's press notes, audiences become "Ecstatic," "On Fire" or "Delirious." "Del Tingo" is a 16-song smorgasbord of the group's repertoire, beginning with the spirited Mexican "La Negra" and the French "Margot labourez les vignes," the Brazilian "Rosa Amarela" and the German "Tanzen und Springen;" and country-hopping into England's "Come Again," Cuba's "Mama Ines," Japan's "Ue wo muite," Italy's "Amor Vittorioso" and the US spiritual "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." Brazil's "Samba de uma nota so," Spain's "Chacona," Finland's Satumaa Tango" and Glenn Miller's "In The Mood"… Voz continually amazes us with their spirited versatility. Listen to this multilingual a cappella gem and become an instant Voz en Punto fan!  

Twenty-five tracks narrated by Theodore Bikel, who explains and describes much of the tradition associated with each composition, this frequently and beautifully accompanied CD reflects the "diverse and multi-national nature of the Jewish experience." The detailed liner notes further elaborate on Jewish history and the CD's content, which encompasses Sephardic songs, folk melodies, European nineteenth-century classical, and more. "Maoz Tzur" (Rock Of Ages in English), is a German synagogue melody with an arrangement from 1720 by the Italian, Marcello. The Western Wind, a mixed sextet, has a refined and cultured tone, and each piece is performed with a quiet dignity.