Tallis: In ieiunio et fletu (In jejunio et fletu)

“Never before has Spem in alium, Tallis's great 40-part motet, so closely resembled The Last Judgement as it does in this vast and awesome performance” Gramophone Magazine

“A thrilling large scale performance” CD Review

This is quite the best performance of Tallis's 40-part Spem in Alium that I have heard." Gramophone

“This is quite simply the best performance of Tallis's 40-part Spem in alium to date. Sung by a constellation of singers, many of them familiar names from other wellestablished choral groups, it's a gripping realisation.
The effect of the slowly moving harmonies is enhanced by a well-conceived and very positive use of dynamics. Precise entries, gently undulating rhythms that are wonderfully supple, and then those firm antiphonal phrases – one group of choirs answered by another at 'Creator coeli et terra' – raise the tension, until we twice almost miss a heart-beat at the well-placed rest before 'Respice …'.
That great motet, so central to the whole programme, is well supported by the four-part Mass and the delightful group of other pieces for various combinations of voices. The hymn Te lucis with its alternating chant strophes sounding so very English (almost too perfect for what was, after all, just run-of-the-mill everyday chant!) has the tempo relationship of the chant to the polyphony just right, which is a tremendous plus, rarely achieved.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“[In Spem in alium] Parrott's sure touch tells in the form: the first entry is clear and confident...the first Mexican wave spreads inexorably, the arrival on the second tutti rings out like a clarion-call, the antiphonal section doesn't flag, the initial 'Respice' is solemn and arresting, and the final tutti gloriously full-bodied.” Gramophone Magazine, February 2010

“This, the third volume of the survey by The Tallis Scholars of the music of the Tudor composer, Thomas Tallis, contains the well-known Lamentations, eight motets, and the extended motet Salve intemerata virgo. The Lamentations and motets are typical of the style of late Renaissance English composers. The overall mood is one of considerable austerity and their simplicity is indicative of the probability of their having been written for the private use of loyal Catholics rather than for formal ritual. Salve intemeratavirgo, on the other hand, looks back to the glories of the late 15th century. In particular, Tallis's use of the phrygian mode gives the work as a whole a strong sense of the medieval. Despite this disparity of styles the Tallis Scholars acquit themselves, as always, with great distinction. In the Lamentations and motets they achieve an appropriate sense of intimacy, while in Salve intermerata virgo they rise fully to the challenges of one of the more extended and demanding examples of Tudor choral composition. In addition the formidable challenges which this latter work sets for the conductor, such as the sense of pace, variation of dynamics, and overall architecture of the work, are all extremely well handled by Peter Phillips.
The recording is very fine.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Contrasts abound: Byrd’s florid three-section Tribue Domine is almost Marian in its vastness, while Tallis’s hymn setting O nata lux de lumine is brevity itself...The dozen singers perform expressively and blend beautifully throughout, while Skinner, who adopts a commonsense approach to pitch standards, injects passion into every note.” Sunday Times, 30th January 2011 ****

“They use solo voices throughout, mixed voices with a fairly open sound that brings with it more vibrato than we are used to hearing in such music nowadays...That results in performances that are refreshingly free of self-indulgence. Some of the big Byrd pieces in particular are very good indeed.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2011

“The prevailing mood is penitential, but the pieces are never dull; there's much delight to be had in listening to the way the individual voice parts weave in and out...Skinner gets his singers to bring [the false relations] out so that they send shivers down your spine...[He] shapes the music extremely well.” Classic FM Magazine, March 2011 ****

“Homophonic passages impress with their splendour, enriched here by the chestnut hues of basses William Gaunt and Robert Macdonald. The clarity of line lays bare the ingenuity of counterpoint, no matter how thick the texture becomes - a formidable achievement in Byrd's 'double imitation' motets.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2011 ***

“This is the first time the Cantiones Sacrae has been recorded complete and 'in the original order intended by the composers themselves'...An auspicious beginning to a mighty undertaking.” International Record Review, May 2011

“The ensemble is flawless and the sound reproduction crystalline.” BBC Music Magazine, Proms 2008 ***

“The Hilliards here return to familiar territory with a programme of Tallis, Tye and Sheppard.
While the territory may be familiar, however, not all of its landmarks are, and neither is their disposition – this is an extremely well organised disc, surveying the impact that the musical aspects of the Reformation had in the first instance on English composers (what David Skinner aptly describes as 'that musicologically grey period in the last decades of Henry VIII's reign'). Thus, while all the works by Tallis (Inieiunio et fletu, Te lucis ante terminum, Audivivocem and Salvator mundi, the latter given a particularly beautiful performance) are well known, they are set in the context of much more recondite material.
The rarities from Sheppard include the early Gaudete celicole omnes, whose constant flow almost suggests at times a kind of English Gombert, and later, clearly Henrician works, such as the marvellously luminous hymn Eternerex, altissime. The music by Tye includes Omnesgentes plaudite, which may perhaps be considered relatively known, but the four sections of the Missa sine nomine from the Peterhouse partbooks will probably be unknown even to most connoisseurs of this period, precisely on account of the missing voice. Hopefully these beautifully blended performances will help to change this state of affairs, for it is an extremely impressive work, heralding the new, compact and more declamatory style with consummate skill. An outstanding release.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“…beautifully blended performances…” Gramophone Magazine, October 2008