This is the second Taverner Mass recorded by Christ Church Choir—the Choir that traces its distinguished history back to the time when the composer himself was its first informator (in January I reviewed the Missa Corona spinea under Frands Grier on ASV). One hazard of College choirs is that their membership is constantly changing; choral scholars come only to leave after a brief three years and trebles grow up and lose their high voices. Eight years having passed since Corona spinea was recorded: the Choir is virtually a different instrument, with a new Director, trebles less brilliant but better able to control their voices, and a generally more even balance over all.
Much thoughtful work has gone into the recording. 'Reconstruction' being the order of the day—the 'in-word' where early music is concerned—not only has David Skinner produced a performing edition of this most cheerful of Masses, successfully reconstituting the missing tenor in the Peterhouse part-books, but Andrew Carwood has provided a liturgical framework for the feast of the Annunciation in Paschaltide. Nowadays, anyone attempting a reconstruction of a Salisbury liturgy has a new and first-class tool at his disposal: Nick Sandon's The Use of Salisbury. Had he so wished, Carwood could have found most of his materials there. Carwood actually parts company with Sandon on several points. A few unusual passages in the rather well-known Propers are possibly due to misprints and faulty clefs, frequently found in sixteenth-century printed service-books. That being said, Carwood himself makes an ideal 'Celebrant', well supported by his 'Deacon' and 'Subdeacon'. The intonation and solo chanting are really good and entirely convincing. The Plainsong Choir, with their bouncing repercussions, sound slightly ill-at-ease in the more florid chants. In the syllabic pieces (troped Kyrie, Sequentia), I would have welcomed a more natural, less relentlessly equalist approach something to match up to the flexibility the Choir display in the Taverner Mass movements and in the two Motets.'