This is a generous mid-price reissue of three splendidly contrasted Tudor Masses: Tye’s brilliantly scored, but concisely expressed Euge Bone Mass, Tallis’s gorgeously serene Puer natus Mass (probably written at the same period, during the reign of Queen Mary, 1553-8) and Byrd’s five-part Mass of c1594-5 – movingly warm-hearted and humble, crystal-clear in exposition of text and theology.
Philip Ledger had a remarkably fine band of voices at King’s in the early 1980s, but often his discipline comes perilously close to regimentation, with an irritating insistence on overpunctilious consonants (especially from the boys) and an emphasis on exact pulse and ensemble that seems to inhibit subtleties of phrasing and interpretation. By far the most satisfying performance here is the Tallis. The choir are held on a tight rein, maybe, but the spacious tempos allow the alchemy of the famous acoustic an appreciable say in the patient unfolding of polyphony and harmony in this wonderful work, reconstructed from fragmentary sources by Sally Dunckley and David Wulstan in the 1970s. Many will find the tautness of Ledger’s Tye impressive also, but in the Byrd, Jeremy Summerly for Naxos suggests a spiritual depth in restraint which, for my sensibilities, makes Ledger seem callow by comparison. Nevertheless, the choir’s technical dependability, plus the superb presentation and engineering from EMI, are considerable compensations.'