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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Victoria: Requiem
Tomás Luis de Victoria’s requiem mass for six voices, written in 1603 and published in 1605, is a masterpiece. It is one of a handful of large-scale works which enjoys mainstream appeal in the 21st century. For many, it represents what Renaissance polyphony is, what it sounds and feels like, and how expressive it can be. The disc also features two well-known works by Victoria’s contemporary Alonso Lobo. The performance comes from the renowned professional chamber choir Tenebrae, led by Nigel Short, following their recent BBC Music Magazine nominated recording of Francis Poulenc’s Figure Humaine. “Tenebrae here exquisitely conveys the the flowing relationships between its six voices...The group presents the work with elegant subtlety, allowing the full detail of tonal colouration to shine through unencumbered. The abnegation of wordly misery in lines such as "My soul is weary of my life" is echoed in the less well-known but equally absorbing "Versa est in luctum"” The Independent, 15th April 2011 ***** “here is music of essential simplicity and spiritual depth. Tenebrae’s performance, directed by Nigel Short, is gently sustained, immaculately balanced and wrapped in a luminous acoustic...If you have ever developed a resistance to Renaissance polyphony, this could be the disc to make you think again.” Financial Times, 30th April 2011 ***** “Short finds a musical dramaturgy to match that of the text. The Requiem is written for six voices, but this choir of 20 never seems lumbering or unbalanced. They are perfectly tuned (listen to the exquisite poise of the Agnus Dei), and one is rarely aware of intrusive individual singers. The acoustic has a long echo, but the sound is kept nicely in focus. This recording does justice both to the genius of Victoria and to the musicality of Tenebrae.” BBC Music Magazine, June 2011 ***** “Tenebrae applies its customary sensibility and expressive power to one of the great cornerstones of the choral repertoire. Beautifully recorded with just the right amount of resonance...Victoria called on all his imaginative resources in this Requiem, and Tenebrae interprets them magnificently.” The Telegraph, 19th May 2011 ***** “[the Lobo settings] allow Tenebrae to demonstrate the full range of their fingertip coloristic precision and ease at negotiating tricky chromatic relationships...Tenebrae avoid the emotional hard-sell by stressing lines for dramatic effect, and let the sounds themselves do the work. This is a definitive modern Victoria Requiem, performed by a choir who relish its musical and expressive challenges.” Classic FM Magazine, July 2011 ***** “This new recording by Tenebrae...recalls the wonderful 1987 recording by the Tallis Scholars in its luminous clarity and firm architectonics...Immediately apparent are the modulations of feeling directly registered in the undulating phrases, something that characterizes this performance as a whole.” International Record Review, July 2011  BBC Music Magazine
Choral & Song Choice - June 2011 |
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| |  | Baroque Music from Latin America: New World SymphoniesFrom Araujo to Zipoli: an A to Z of Latin American Baroque Music
“This is one of the most eye-opening CDs—or should I say ear-opening— that I have heard this year. What a magical concoction of sounds—and what brilliant playing!” Classic FM Magazine | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Santiago a cappellaRecording location: St Alban the Martyr, Holborn, London
Soli Deo Gloria is proud to release a sequel to its best selling album to date, Pilgrimage to Santiago (SDG701). This CD is a journey through medieval and renaissance Spain. It takes listeners from the 14th century polyphonies of the Llibre Vermell (Red Book) of Montserrat – one of the only surviving manuscripts, from a time when music was transmitted orally – to elaborate 16th and 17th century choral music which travelled internationally thanks to the recent invention of print. During the Middle Ages and Early Modern periods, pilgrimage routes formed part of a broader network of cultural and commercial connections between ecclesiastical institutions in Spain, Portugal and the rest of Europe. This is an anthology of Golden Age “classics” which would have been performed throughout Europe for centuries. In turn moving, intimate, spectacular and awe inspiring, this sacred music is always uplifting and deeply spiritual. This is the oldest of two recordings made around the 2004 Pilgrimage to Santiago – a project undertook by the Monteverdi Choir and Sir John Eliot Gardiner for their 40th anniversary. The musicians travelled through France and Spain to perform sacred polyphonies of the Iberian peninsula along the route to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela. The CD features the same luxurious packaging as Pilgrimage to Santiago. It includes detailed notes by musicologist Tess Knighton. This album was previously released internationally by Universal Spain under the title Santiago A Capella. “A wonderful collection brilliantly sung. Only Mariam Matrem is a true pilgrim piece, but others (Lobo's Versa est) are a revelation.” BBC Music Magazine “...it is a beautifully planned and executed selection, occasionally a little too English perhaps, but recorded at Temple Church in London with just the right amount of warm resonance.” The Guardian, 21st October 2010 **** “Originally released by Universal in 2005, this features a series of sublime interpretations of Spanish polyphony by the Monteverdi Choir...[Lobo's] "Lamentationes Ieremiae Prophetae" furnishing the centrepiece, its arching long phrases like the vertiginous vaulting of a sonic cathedral.” The Independent, 8th October 2010 **** “Prolonged exposure to the solemn polyphony of Victoria, Lobo and Cardoso can be wearing, but it is relieved by more dramatic works from Guerrero. The choir makes a glorious sound.” The Telegraph, 15th October 2010 **** | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Requiem
"Settings of the Requiem Mass are among the most frequent requests for concert music. This may seem unlikely, given the subject matter, but in fact it is just that subject matter which makes them so compelling. There is a drama inherent in the text which never fails to move audiences, having, in the first place, brought out the best in the composer. It is not a modern kind of drama such as we are used to seeing in the cinema or on television, but rather of the opposite: of the light which is shining on the deceased (whose body would have been present in the original performances), of the immediacy of heaven, of the peace which death will bring. Put in words this may sound a bit far-fetched, but from the split second that the opening ‘Requiem aeternam' chant is heard, every listener is inevitably transported. It is a classic instance of the power of music over every other art-form to communicate without reserve." Peter Phillips | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | New World SymphoniesBaroque Music from Latin America
“A heady mix, rooted in European polyphony but influenced, often almost beyond recognition, by local rhythm and colour.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2005 “This is one of the most eye-opening CDs - or should I say ear-opening - that I have heard this year. What a magical concoction of sounds - and what brilliant playing!'” Classic FM Magazine “Ex Cathedra has unearthed some magnificent music here; there are plenty of fascinating discoveries performed with great feeling and panache, and with potent seasong from the period instruments. The disc has the makings of a bestseller, and certainly deserves to be” The Telegraph “Terrific music, terrific singing” The Times “choral music of the most vibrant quality imaginable, performed by Ex Cathedra with equally vigorous zeal…unmissable” Birmingham Post | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Victoria - Requiem
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| |  | Sancte DeusRenaissance Sacred Polyphony
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| |  | Requiem
A subtle album of choral music in memory of our loved ones. Movements from Victoria’s eloquent sixteenth-century Requiem Mass, and music by William Byrd frame a series of beautiful and reflective choral pieces unfold including stunning new works by John Duggan based on poetry from the First World War. Featuring Sospiri, one of Oxford’s finest choirs. | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Sacred Voices: Music of the Renaissance
“the (unnamed) soloist in Allegri's Miserere is brilliant, and Tallis's Spem in Alium majestic.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2011 **** | | | Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days. |
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| |  | Mortuus est Philippus RexMusic for the life and death of the Spanish King
“Another distinguished release from the Westminster stable” Classic CD “One of the best CDs they have made” Gramophone Magazine | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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