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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Taverner - Sacred choral music
John Taverner brought the English florid style to its culmination and final flowering; his music is quite unlike anything written by his continental contemporaries and, viewed retrospectively, represents not only the culmination of one period but also the beginning of something new. In his debut recording with the critically acclaimed Edinburgh choir, Duncan Ferguson presents this music with forces akin to those of the 16th century - a small group of children and a larger number of men.The singers respond with their characteristic freshness, and an emotional authenticity born of the daily round of liturgical performance. “The music marks the apogee of pre-Reformation florid polyphony and is endlessly fascinating, the compositional means clearly audible and sublimely transcended.” Sunday Times, 17th January 2010 *** “The performances by the mixed choir of Edinburgh Cathedral are caught in a wonderfully vivid, close acoustic, so the beautifully elaborate polyphony seems all-embracing.” The Guardian, 21st January 2010 *** “Treble voices surf high on huge waves of polyphony in the extraordinary Missa Corona Spinea, while smaller items display the same freshness, purity and liturgical glow. Duncan Ferguson, the Master of Music, is plainly a wizard” The Times, 5th February 2010 **** “The second Agnus Dei is particularly memorable: these young singers' pleasure in their music-making is simply infectious.” Gramophone Magazine, March 2010 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Taverner: Imperatrix inferniVotive Antiphons & Ritual Music
John Taverner (d. 1545) is, arguably, the most famous of all early Tudor composers, and one who had a rather colourful musical and political career. His music represents the final flowering of late medieval English polyphony before the onslaught of mid 16th-century Reformation. Much of the music on this recording centres around Taverner’s earlier career, including the three surviving large-scale Votive Antiphons. Included, too, is his sumptuous six-part Quemadmodum, which stylistically foreshadows true ‘Renaissance’ composition in England. “It presents two of John Taverner’s Marian antiphons...alongside other ritual works, highlighting his changing approach, his convergence on an expressive clarity that became the epitome of late-Renaissance style. Unchanging are his arching melodic lines, his eloquent harmonic language and his liking for rich, variously coloured textures. The vocal ensemble Alamire’s singing approaches perfection.” Sunday Times, 4th December 2011 “the luminous timbre of Alamire's two contraltos makes a pleasant change from the sometimes hooty tones of choral countertenors. The whole ensemble, in fact, shares that luminosity. The purity of tone and accuracy of tuning throughout this programme are about as fine as I have ever heard...a sumptuous wash of sound that is at the same time highly intelligible.” International Record Review, November 2011 “Mater Christi is near perfect in its shaping and David Skinner is right to praise Quemadmodem, whose extraordinary concision shows how far Taverner moved from the swashbuckling vigour of his youth....Taverner's successes are Alamire's, in the main...The singers respond in kind to the compact, reflective Mater Christi” Gramophone Magazine, January 2012 “it contains some truly great music...The choir is very well directed by David Skinner who negotiates these expansive, arching structures with poise and insight...the female sopranos are at once delicate and sure-footed, and the cumulative effects from the whole choir in O splendor Gloriae are breathtaking.” BBC Music Magazine, January 2012 **** | | | (also available to download from $10.75) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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'A definitive performance of this glorious work ... superbly recorded' (Classic CD) | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | The Golden Age of English Polyphony
Fayrfax: | Aeternae Laudis Lilium Missa Albanus | Mundy, W: | O Lord, the maker of all things Videte miraculum Sive vigilem Ah, helpless wretch Vox Patris caelestis Kyrie ‘Orbis factor’ O Lord, the world's Saviour Magnificat Nunc dimittis The secret sins Beatus et sanctus Adolescentulus sum ego | Sheppard, J: | Cantate Mass Salvator mundi Domine Verbum caro factum est Laudem dicite Deo Reges Tharsis et insulae In manus tuas I Filiae Hierusalem venite In pace in idipsum Paschal Kyrie Jesu salvator saeculi, verbum Mass 'The Western Wynde' The Second Service Te Deum laudamus Spiritus sanctus I Justi in perpetuum vivent Libera nos 1 & II Audivi vocem de caelo Deus tuorum militum I Ave maris stella Jesu salvator saeculi, redemptis Spiritus Sanctus procedens II Beata nobis gaudia In manus tuas II Gaude gaude gaude Maria Haec dies quam fecit Dominus Impetum fecerunt unanimes Dum transisset Sabbatum I Sancte Dei pretiose Sacris solemniis Hostes Herodes impie Dum transisset Sabbatum II In manus tuas III Aeterne Rex altissime | Taverner: | Archangeli Michaelis Interventione Kyrie 'Le Roy' Missa O Michael Dum transisset Sabbatum I Gaude plurimum Ex eius tumba Missa Corona Spinea In pace, in idipsum O splendor gloriae Te Deum Alleluia. Veni, electa mea Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas In nomine a 4 Audivi vocem de coelo Dum transisset Sabbatum II Hodie nobis caelorum rex Mater Christi Sanctissima Magnificat a 4 - Nesciens mater Quemadmodum a 6 Missa Mater Christi sanctissima Mass 'The Western Wynde' O Wilhelme, pastor bone Missa Sancti Wilhelmi 'Small Devotion Mass' |
When The Sixteen embarked upon their recording career back in 1982, few would have been able to predict quite how successful they would become, or how far they would go towards rehabilitating the little-known and barely recorded music of these four master composers of the sixteenth century. In this their 30th anniversary year, we join them in celebrating a Golden Age of Polyphony, and of music-making, by presenting their twelve discs of this repertoire in an attractively packaged (and priced) 10-CD remastered set. “English choral music at its finest.” The Observer, 29th November 2009 | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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