COMPOSERS: Taverner
LABELS: Hyperion Helios
WORKS: Missa Sancti Wilhelmi; Ex eius tumba; O Wilhelme, pastor bone; Dum transisset Sabbatum
PERFORMER: The Sixteen/Harry Christophers
CATALOGUE NO: CDH 55055 Reissue (1990)
This is the sixth Hyperion disc devoted to the music of John Taverner. The St William Mass (also known as the ‘Small Devotion’ Mass) is not his grandest work but, in this searching performance, its small dark corners flicker with a light that hurries us on from movement to movement. The high pitch at which it is sung lends a wonderful purity to the soprano line, but leaves the basses slightly hard-edged and exposed. Of the motets, ‘Dum transisset’ is a masterpiece and is here restored to its proper liturgical format. Anthony Pryer
Taverner: Missa Sancti Wilhelmi; Ex eius tumba; O Wilhelme, pastor bone; Dum transisset Sabbatum
This is the sixth Hyperion disc devoted to the music of John Taverner. The St William Mass (also known as the ‘Small Devotion’ Mass) is not his grandest work but, in this searching performance, its small dark corners flicker with a light that hurries us on from movement to movement. The high pitch at which it is sung lends a wonderful purity to the soprano line, but leaves the basses slightly hard-edged and exposed. Of the motets, ‘Dum transisset’ is a masterpiece and is here restored to its proper liturgical format. Anthony Pryer
Our rating
4
Published: January 20, 2012 at 1:22 pm