Palestrina: Stabat mater

“[the Missa Regina Caeli is] given a polished, carefully paced and highly sensitive reading here. The singers invest as much emotional intensity in one of the two double-choir polyphonic settings of the antiphon as they do in the rest of the set.” Sunday Times, 17th February 2013

“The subject – the grieving mother at the foot of the cross – is all the more anguished in this unadorned double-choir setting, sung with full, pure tone and welcome momentum...The Sixteen have their own divine qualities, generously on display here.” The Observer, 17th March 2013

“The opening sequence, Stabat Mater, shows just what is admirable about this choir and the direction it receives...every ounce of implied drama, of unsettled feeling, and of deep reflection is brought to bear on a performance of superbly crafted form, nuanced dynamics, overlapping phrasing and effortless tuning...as The Sixteen get into this series they are warming to their task.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2013 ****

“in this style of interpreting Palestrina, The Sixteen are sensitive and remarkably assured….The Sixteen's Palestrina cycle may just be a classic in the making.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2013

“The Bruno Turner performances (Papae Marcelli and motets) are adroit, but their downward transpositions drain vitality. The Mark Brown L'homme armé Mass is energetic, the singing less focused.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2010 ****

“Time and again in this profoundly sentient collection of Marian compositions the Gabrieli Consort effectively bypass the whole self-orientated notion of 'performance', drawing the listener into what, in many of these pieces, is essentially a process of prayer through music. Not all is meditatively reverential, however... James MacMillan's superbly dramatic Seinte Mari Moder Milde is in places fiercely, burningly imprecatory in its impact. It's magnificently sung here by the Gabrieli Consort, whom Paul McCreesh directs with passion and dedication...” BBC Music Magazine, January 2009 *****

“Marian worship reaches giddy heights of bliss in this gloriously sung survey. There can be nothing but praise for the breathtaking assurance and responsiveness of McCreesh's singers throughout… Emanating from the magically apt surroundings of Ely Cathedral's Lady Chapel, the sound is as atmospheric and voluptuous as can be imagined...” Gramophone Magazine, March 2009

“Sung throughout with sensitivity to style, this themed programme reveals the reverence and the rapture the Virgin Mary has inspired in music over the centuries.” The Telegraph, 23rd February 2009

“Two years ago Paul McCreesh and his choir released a beautifully conceived album on the theme of pilgrimage, interleaving Tudor polyphony with 20th-century British a cappella settings. Now he and the Gabrieli Consort have attempted the same thing using music composed in honour of the Virgin Mary, though this time they have cast their historical net far wider. As before, Renaissance masterpieces provide the spine. But this time a range of traditions is represented; there is an Ave Maria by Josquin, and a motet by his contemporary Jean Mouton, as well as Palestrina's monumental Stabat Mater and some anonymous pieces. The modern settings of Marian texts are even more disparate. John Tavener and Giles Swayne rub shoulders with Herbert Howells and Thomas Adès, and the disc ends with James MacMillan, Grieg, Bax and Gorecki. Choral forces vary from eight singers to over 30, and the recorded sound from Ely Cathedral is consistently glorious; but the musical mixture seems just a bit too eclectic.” The Guardian, 20th February 2009 ***

“'My intention was to create a collection of private meditations highlighting the key events of Mary's life,' writes Paul McCreesh, 'Like the Book ofHours, it would consist of works intended for metaphysical reflection: for revealing and and commenting on the ineffable.' It's a tremendously rewarding sequence, some 13 items in all spanning no fewer than 600 years, and so cannily programmed that temporal and stylistic boundaries shift and sometimes evaporate altogether: prepare to marvel at the way Josquin's Ave Maria,Virgo serena follows on so naturally from Sir John Tavener's ravishing A Hymn to the Mother of God.
Tavener is one of five living figures represented, the contributions by Giles Swayne, Thomas Adès and James MacMillan adding a not unwelcome element of astringency to the mix and contrasting boldly with the transcendent diatonic radiance of Górecki's Totus tuus.
There can be nothing but praise for the breathtaking assurance and responsiveness of McCreesh's singers throughout.
Emanating from the magically apt surroundings of Ely Cathedral's Lady Chapel, the sound is as atmospheric and voluptuous as can be imagined, though the formidable resonance means that the words are not always ideally clear. But that's about the only grumble, for this is indeed a glorious CD.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Having thoroughly internalised this music, Phillips creates a reading of great authority. The greatest contrast between the two Merton College recordings… is the choir's sound: this now commands a rich range of colours and textures, captured by superior sound engineering.” BBC Music Magazine, March 2007 ****

“It's about 25 years since The Tallis Scholars' debut recording, which included the Pope Marcellus Mass and Allegri's Miserere; and in 1994 they issued a video (also available as a CD) of a concert in the Sistine Chapel commemorating the 400th anniversary of Palestrina's death.
This third recording has far more in common with the latter interpretation than with the first, and in essentials little seems to have changed in 10 years, but the wholly ethereal approach a quarter-century ago is now changed into something more robust. That's attributable as much to the difference in the singers' timbres as to a change in Peter Phillips's view of these works.
This new recording's principal innovation is the inclusion of two different readings of the Allegri (or rather, the modern-day elaboration of it that bears his name – a distinction that Phillips's booklet-notes don't acknowledge): one sung quite 'straight', and the other with embellishments to the famous top line evolved over many years (and countless live performances) by soprano Deborah Roberts. This is the main reason for recommending the disc, even though the ornaments to the opening verses are a little slow to get off the ground. By the end, the excitement is undeniable.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010