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'A splendid introduction for those who have yet to discover the riches of early Tudor music' (CDReview) “The Missa Sancti Wilhelmi isn't one of Taverner's best known works, but there's no reason why this should be the case. Though it doesn't have the sometimes rather wild melodic beauty of the sixvoice Masses, it's nevertheless an impressive work in a more modern imitative style, in keeping with its model O Wilhelme, pastor bone. The Sixteen perform with their customary clarity and precision, and convey enthusiasm even in the somewhat syllabic Gloria and Credo movements of the Mass, something which isn't always easy to do.
While both the 'Wilhelm' works and Dum transissetSabbatum are among Taverner's later works, there's no doubt at all that Ex eius tumba is one of the earliest. It's firmly late medieval in style, and the intricate tracery of its construction makes a thought-provoking contrast to the pieces in a more 'continental' imitative style. At 15 minutes this is a substantial composition, and one can only be surprised that it's so little known. Dum transissetSabbatum is, however, the high point of the disc, and if The Sixteen do not quite attain the ecstatic heights achieved in the recording by The Tallis Scholars, neither do they fail to rise to Taverner's inspiration.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | A Year at York
David Pipe (organ) The Choir of York Minster, Robert Sharpe (director) The first in a new series from Regent charting a musical journey through the church’s year at well-loved cathedrals. This journey in music through a year at York Minster features a number of works written for the Choir of York Minster. Several First recordings. Featuring either the boy or the girl choristers, together with the Songmen. Includes Charles Stanford’s Magnficat in G sung by Isabel Suckling (The Choirgirl). “the men have a rich tone, almost operatic at times. This can occasionally overshadow York's chorister, whose sound has an attractive fragility....An auspicious start to what should prove a major collection of choral recording.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2012 “York offers a particularly rich crop of new and relatively recent music...Naylor's Vox dicentis...[is] given with confidence, firm tuning, clear diction and phrasing and even a little drama, the excellent of the performances masking just how difficult it can be to make this sort of music work well.” International Record Review, March 2012 | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Voices Of TranquillityMusic from the Sherborne Missal
A meditative album of music linked to the Sherborne missal, an important manuscript associated with Sherborne Abbey which celebrates its 1300th anniversary in 2005. Sung by Magdala, Oxford's leading mixed-voice choir, it contains both gentle plainchant and magnificent full-bodied choral music with Renaissance masterworks by some of the greatest composers of their age. | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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John Taverner, the most outstanding English composer of his time, was appointed Informator Choristarum of Cardinal College, Oxford in 1526, with the charge of establishing the foremost choral institution in the land. He succeeded magnificently and the tradition continues to this day at what is now known as Christ Church, Oxford, with acclaimed director Stephen Darlington, renowned for his strength in 16th century choral music, at the helm. Darlington and his forces – 16 boys and 12 men, unchanged since the 1520s – pay homage to their predecessor with a programme of his liturgical music written at Oxford. While there, Taverner had to write music to be performed virtually round the clock and he rose to the challenge using great imagination. He wrote innumerable memorable melodies, with an unprecedented emotional range and a sophisticated sense of drama. His music was astonishingly modern for its time, and in its richness remains much so today. The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford has a special and distinctive place within the great English choral tradition as it uniquely serves both an Oxford college and a diocese. With an unbroken, continuous tradition of glorious music-making for nearly five hundred years, today the choir is renowned for its vibrant sound and artistic versatility, qualities that have been praised throughout the world from Sydney to Rio de Janiero, Tokyo to New York, Helsinki to Paris. Apart from their Oxford duties and international tours, the Choir has been heard by millions on the Mr. Bean soundtracks and Vicar of Dibley TV theme tune. Recorded at the Chapel of Merton College, Oxford, England, 15 –17 November 2006 “Taverner's Mass is the chef d'oeuvre of the greatest composer of his time, yet it has never before been recorded by the kind of liturgical choir which he had in mind; this is a courageous and significant act of reclamation.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2007 “Stephen Darlington gives majestic shape to this monumental work, effectively drawing out the imperturbable tread of the 'Gloria tibi Trinitas' cantus firmus. The choir produces a sound of blistering intensity…” BBC Music Magazine, August 2007 *** “The Choir of Christ Church could hardly have made a more ambitious return to recording after their valuable but variable series of Nimbus Tavener Vocal 1157 discs. Taverner's Mass is the chef d'oeuvre of the greatest composer of his time, yet it has never before been recorded by the kind of liturgical choir which he had in mind; this is a courageous and significant act of reclamation. Courageous, because Taverner's demands of phrase and melodic continuity are more subtle, but no less daunting in their own way, than those presented by Palestrina and Gombert. Performing at written pitch helps.
Stephen Darlington and his choir aren't afraid of a few dirty edges around the sound; this is a world away from the hygienic surfaces of the Gabrieli Consort or from the shapely halo of King's, Cambridge. The Christ Church trebles have a full-frontal attack to a phrase that is more commonly heard from middle-European choirs.
That makes it more susceptible to the glare of the microphone, but the recording itself dares to go in closer than Nimbus ever did. The risk largely pays off in tutti passages of startling immediacy, contrasted with more solo verse sections than is usual (to rest tired voices?). Some distended cadences leave you wondering whether they can possibly have the puff to sustain them. Sometimes they can't (at the end of the first paragraph of the Sanctus); often they can (the 'Hosanna' at the end of the famous Benedictus).
The motets are no less individual in concept and execution, including a cheeky but winning slide in Mater Christi; like the rest of the disc it will divide opinion, but it demands to be taken seriously.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 | | | Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days. |
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| |  | Taverner: Missa Mater Christi
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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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Gramophone Magazine