TALLIS Gentleman of the Chapel Royal
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Thomas Tallis
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Resonus Classics
Magazine Review Date: 03/2019
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 68
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: RES10229
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Mass for four voices |
Thomas Tallis, Composer
Carl Jackson, Conductor The Gentlemen of HM Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace Thomas Tallis, Composer |
Mass Puer natus est nobis |
Thomas Tallis, Composer
Carl Jackson, Conductor The Gentlemen of HM Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace Thomas Tallis, Composer |
In pace in idipsum |
Thomas Tallis, Composer
Carl Jackson, Conductor The Gentlemen of HM Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace Thomas Tallis, Composer |
Loquebantur variis linguis |
Thomas Tallis, Composer
Carl Jackson, Conductor The Gentlemen of HM Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace Thomas Tallis, Composer |
Miserere nostri |
Thomas Tallis, Composer
Carl Jackson, Conductor The Gentlemen of HM Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace Thomas Tallis, Composer |
Si enim iniquitates |
Thomas Tallis, Composer
Carl Jackson, Conductor The Gentlemen of HM Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace Thomas Tallis, Composer |
Suscipe quaeso Dominus |
Thomas Tallis, Composer
Carl Jackson, Conductor The Gentlemen of HM Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace Thomas Tallis, Composer |
Author: Fabrice Fitch
All these pieces are exceptionally well served in the discography, especially the seven-voice Mass. It’s a luxury enjoyed by few pre-Baroque pieces, and one cannot help but listen to any new reading in that light. Everything is performed two-to-a-part by the men and the sound is pleasingly compact (worth mentioning, given how much seven-part music is involved). Where the music shapes itself and gives them clear leads (particularly in the four-part Mass) things go well, but in the seven-part music the impression is midway between a read-through and an interpretation. There are certainly idiomatic moments (the final Agnus Dei of Puer natus est, for example) but too often textures are static, with little sense of architecture or pacing. The blend of the pairs of voices isn’t always secure (try the penultimate chord of the four-voice Mass), with inevitable consequences for the overall sound and the projection of complex textures, and the tempo chosen for the Miserere nostri means that passing dissonances are unnecessarily emphasised. On the whole, the less ambitious music is the better served.
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