COMPOSERS: Tallis
LABELS: Decca Double Decca
WORKS: Spem in alium; Lamentationes Ieremiae; Te Deum; Videte miraculum
PERFORMER: Choirs of King’s College and St John’s College, Cambridge/David Willcocks, George Guest, Stephen Cleobury
CATALOGUE NO: 455 029-2 ADD/DDD 1961-90
It’s thirty or so years since this classic performance of the forty-part Spem in alium was recorded. The King’s approach, with fibrillating trebles and plum-in-the-mouth basses (not to mention the infamously woolly chapel acoustic) seems as distant now as, say, Elgar’s acoustic recordings. A leaner, more focused sound has since become the norm for the performance of works of this kind, but Tallis’s magnificent music survives regardless. On its own terms, this generous compilation is an attractive survey of some of his best- known Latin pieces. Antony Bye
Tallis: Spem in alium; Lamentationes Ieremiae; Te Deum; Videte miraculum
It’s thirty or so years since this classic performance of the forty-part Spem in alium was recorded. The King’s approach, with fibrillating trebles and plum-in-the-mouth basses (not to mention the infamously woolly chapel acoustic) seems as distant now as, say, Elgar’s acoustic recordings. A leaner, more focused sound has since become the norm for the performance of works of this kind, but Tallis’s magnificent music survives regardless. On its own terms, this generous compilation is an attractive survey of some of his best- known Latin pieces. Antony Bye
Our rating
4
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:40 pm