Penguin Guide Rosette Winners

“Stile Antico perform without a director, and the use of choral effects (gradual build-ups of intensity, or the opposite) doesn't seem overly staged. They certainly make a confident noise, helped by a sound recording that brings out the natural bloom of their sound. ” Gramophone Magazine, June 2008

“The most striking feature of these performances is how wonderfully varied they are. In some pieces… the presentational style almost enters the realm of musical theatre, while in Tallis's God Grant with Grace the utterly still and simple display of the music is transporting.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2008 ****

“wonderful music and singing of considerable distinction” International Record Review

“The young singers of Stile Antico, in their second disc of Tudor music, are magnificent... glorious music, gloriously sung.” Sunday Times Classical CD of the Week

“Harry Christophers imbues this account with maturity and assurance as well as a deep understanding of the music's architecture. He inspires some impassioned singing from the choir - plumbing the depths in the Offertory to depict the 'deep pit' and 'the pains of hell', and elsewhere using a range of rhetorical gestures to heighten intensity.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2005 *****

“…The Sixteen's new offering… builds on their previous recordings by complementing the voices with a chamber organ and the wonderfully robust-sounding bajón, an early Spanish bassoon whose use in polyphonic performances of the period is well documented.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2005

“Cornysh's music is a riot of abundant, often seemingly wild melody, constantly in search of wanton, abstract, dare-devil ideas. Take, for example, the extraordinary conclusion to the five-part Magnificat, where pairs of voices are challenged with music of gradually increasing complexity, peaking in an exchange of quite hair-raising virtuosity between the sopranos – and all this just for the words 'and ever shall be, world without end'! As far as the sacred works are concerned, The Tallis Scholars respond magnificently to Cornysh's audacious imagination. Theirs is a majestic and glorious sound, to be relished in full in the Stabatmater, a huge piece that survives incomplete and for which the late Frank Harrison composed treble parts that may even trump Cornysh himself in their sheer bravura. Marginally less striking in The Tallis Scholars' performances are the short partsongs and the carol Woefully arrayed, robbed as they are here of some of their latent expressiveness and strength by being sung (admittedly very beautifully) in an inappropriately resonant building, and in rounded modern English vowels. But judged as a whole this disc must be reckoned an outstanding success.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“For the 1985 quatercentenary of Tallis's death, Peter Phillips and The Tallis Scholars produced this version of Spem in alium; in many respects it's clearly the most successful ever recorded.
Not only is the choir superb and the interpretation an intelligent one; this is also the only recording in which the eight choirs seem genuinely to sing from different positions in the stereo spread, a technical achievement that leads to some thrilling antiphonal exchanges. Above all, Phillips's reading is a confident and assertive one. The effect is more that of a plea than a prayer, and the overall shaping is most characterful.
Inevitably there are problems of balance, both at the top of the texture (several of the trebles are given rather too much prominence) and in the middle, where in full sections the music of the inner voices sometimes blends too readily into rich chords rather than emerging as a complex web of counterpoint. But these are relatively small complaints to be made against an outstanding achievement. This is a Spem inalium to be cherished.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The centrepiece here is Ockeghem's L'homme armé Mass. It may be one of his earliest Masses, dating perhaps from the early 1450s. It's also one of his most curious. For the most part it lies in a relatively high register, belying his usual predilection for low bass ranges; but every now and again the basses descend in spectacular fashion. In the third Agnus they hold down the tune in very long notes, while the other voices seem to float above them. Seldom before in the history of music can the articulation of time have been so clear a feature of a piece's design: it seems almost to have been suspended altogether. It's an extraordinary moment, difficult to pull off in performance, but here the singers seem to have got it right. Elsewhere, Summerly's approach is nicely varied, but on the whole more meditative than emphatic. The performance grows in stature with each movement, as though keeping pace with the cycle's ambition. The reading isn't without the odd glitch, but taken as a whole it's a fine achievement. The accompanying motets work very well, but it's a shame that the choir's richness of sound isn't quite matched by the acoustic. But the overall impression is resoundingly positive: those new to Ockeghem should find this disc too good an opportunity to pass up.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“[L'Homme arme] is superbly sung here and is marvellously paced...the recording, made in the Chapel of Hertford College, Oxford, could hardly be bettered.” Penguin Guide, 2011 edition

“This is likely to become one of your most cherished discs. It's notable for its spacious depth of sound, volatile unpredictability of interpretation, and above all the soaring sostenuto of the boy trebles, with their forward and slightly nasal tone quality.
With their magnificently controlled legato lines, the Westminster boys treat Victoria's music as though it were some vast plainchant, with a passion that excites and uplifts. The choir is recorded in the exceptionally resonant Westminster Cathedral, at a distance and with great atmosphere.
Ave maris stella isn't one of Victoria's familiar Masses, quite simply because no music publisher has made it available to choirs in a good, cheap edition. To have it rescued from obscurity is laudable in itself, but to have it sung with such poise and sensitivity is an unexpected double treat.
Unlike O quam gloriosum, this is a work that thrills with echoes of Victoria's Spanish upbringing, of Morales and his predecessors, even of Josquin Desprez, whose own Ave maris stella Mass was brought to the cathedrals of the Iberian peninsula earlier in the century. The plainchant melody, familiar through Monteverdi's setting in the 1610 Vespers, completely dominates Victoria's music, for it's placed most often in huge treble lines that wheel high above the general texture. Magnificent as the early parts of the work are, nothing quite matches the final five-part Agnus Dei, sung here with admirable support and exquisitely shaped by David Hill. Recommended without reservation.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010