Tallis: Te lucis ante terminum

“This is beautifully devised programme, sung with ineffable perceptiveness by the Westminster choristers and recorded with utterly natural atmosphere by the Hyperion team: 79 minutes' worth of timeless reflection, which, far from giving up, anyone should possibly crave for Lent.” International Record Review, February 2013

“In purist terms accompanied by organ harmonisation is an anachronism...Does it work? Well, yes, because the choir is on excellent form and the recorded sound seems perfectly to capture a sense of place, of atmosphere. That's indefinable and therefore worth hearing. Furthermore, everything is of a piece: the performance of Renaissance piece might almost be described as lush...And yet the recital's unity of purpose is most convincing, even impressive” Gramophone Magazine, March 2013

“This is a disc for those who love the acoustic, the atmosphere and the musical traditions of the Roman Catholic Cathedral in London...This is a large choir, very good at big effects. The pacing and cohesion in the Agnus Dei of Palestrina's Missa Emendemus in Melius is accomplished and moving” BBC Music Magazine, April 2013 ***

“This outstanding release … features absolutely ravishing performances by Stile Antico… This is an extraordinary recording: In its debut on Harmonia Mundi Stile Antico has given choral music lovers everywhere a reason to celebrate what looks like the beginning of another beautiful relationship!” Classics Today 10/10

“The singing is staggeringly beautiful, the balance meticulous.” Sunday Times

“Debut recordings rarely come as impressive as this sequence of 16th-century English music for the evening service that concluded the daily monastic round of prayer. It suggests that Stile Antico have a future as bright as their pure and crystalline soprano sound, which is heard to special advantage in the pieces by John Sheppard, the most lavishly represented composer on the disc.” The Telegraph

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

“Another success for Jeremy Summerly's Oxford Camerata.” BBC Music Magazine

“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

“A thrilling large scale performance” CD Review

“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