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Music for Compline
from: Harmonia Mundi USA
:From the label:: On its spectacular debut recording, the exciting young British vocal group stile antico presents a program of English Renaissance music associated with the office of Compline, the service that ends the monastic liturgical day. A who's-who of 16th-century British composers--including Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, and John Sheppard--is represented here by hymns, antiphons, responsories, motets, and psalms: the occasion not only for music of intimacy, elegance, and reflection, but for flights of breathtaking canonic and contrapuntal invention and harmonic daring. Stile Antico is an ensemble of young British singers, ...
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O Magnum Mysterium
: :The trademark qualities of a Robert Shaw-trained chorus included perfect tonal blend and balance, expressive phrasing, and superb tuning. As an interpreter, Shaw hewed to the middle road, steering clear of eccentricities and honoring the composer's intentions. On this tribute disc, we hear these virtues coalesce in works such as Poulenc's austere Christmas hymn 'O magnum mysterium,' one of three settings of the text here. Shaw was at his best in works whose fervent spirituality he shared, and the selection from Rachmaninov's Vespers, with its repeated alleluias, is a highlight, both ...
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Audivi Vocem
from: ECM Records
:Album Description:CD-package includes 28-page booklet with an introduction by David Skinner in English and German and all sung texts. 'If clarity is a virtue, these people are saints', wrote France's Nouvel Oberservateur about the Hilliard Ensemble when their interpretation of Bach's motets was released in spring 2007. 'Never have these shining works sounded more beautiful' commented Die Zeit while the Guardian observed a 'supremely musical' rendering, 'overflowing with food for thought'. Last November the ensemble received a certificate of honor for their artistic achievements by the jury of Preis der Deutschen ...
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The Essential Tallis Scholars
from: Gimell UK
:Album Description:CD-package includes 28-page booklet with an introduction by David Skinner in English and German and all sung texts. 'If clarity is a virtue, these people are saints', wrote France's Nouvel Oberservateur about the Hilliard Ensemble when their interpretation of Bach's motets was released in spring 2007. 'Never have these shining works sounded more beautiful' commented Die Zeit while the Guardian observed a 'supremely musical' rendering, 'overflowing with food for thought'. Last November the ensemble received a certificate of honor for their artistic achievements by the jury of Preis der Deutschen ...
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Renaissance: Music For Inner Peace
: :This new release is somewhat mistitled: while most of the pieces are, in fact, from the Renaissance (or early Baroque), there are works here also by Samuel Barber, Poulenc, John Tavener, Bruckne,r and Gorecki. What they all have in common is their beauty and serenity. Perhaps the CDs subtitle, 'Music for Inner Peace,' also refers to a type of renaissance, i.e., spiritual re-birth: in which case, they're right on the money. The Sixteen, led by Harry Christophers, is one of the greatest proponents of this sort of choral music in the ...
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Christmas With the Tallis Scholars
from: Gimell UK
: :This new release is somewhat mistitled: while most of the pieces are, in fact, from the Renaissance (or early Baroque), there are works here also by Samuel Barber, Poulenc, John Tavener, Bruckne,r and Gorecki. What they all have in common is their beauty and serenity. Perhaps the CDs subtitle, 'Music for Inner Peace,' also refers to a type of renaissance, i.e., spiritual re-birth: in which case, they're right on the money. The Sixteen, led by Harry Christophers, is one of the greatest proponents of this sort of choral music in the ...
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Heavenly Harmonies [Hybrid SACD]
from: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
: :This new release is somewhat mistitled: while most of the pieces are, in fact, from the Renaissance (or early Baroque), there are works here also by Samuel Barber, Poulenc, John Tavener, Bruckne,r and Gorecki. What they all have in common is their beauty and serenity. Perhaps the CDs subtitle, 'Music for Inner Peace,' also refers to a type of renaissance, i.e., spiritual re-birth: in which case, they're right on the money. The Sixteen, led by Harry Christophers, is one of the greatest proponents of this sort of choral music in the ...
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Utopia Triumphans
: :A greatly expanded Huelgas Ensemble performs here a collection of multivoice works--pieces that are often referred to but, for logistical reasons, rarely performed. Tallis's famous Spem in alium non habui for 40 voices is here, of course; so is the piece that inspired it, Striggio's 40-voice Ecce beatam lucem. Also included are two extraordinary canons: Ockeghem's 36-voice Deo gratias and Josquin's 24-voice Qui habitat--as well as relatively modest pieces for 13 to 16 voices by Porta and Gabrieli. Spem has had livelier performances (try the Tallis Scholars on Gimell), but none ...
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Thomas Tallis: Complete Works
from: Brilliant Classics
: :A greatly expanded Huelgas Ensemble performs here a collection of multivoice works--pieces that are often referred to but, for logistical reasons, rarely performed. Tallis's famous Spem in alium non habui for 40 voices is here, of course; so is the piece that inspired it, Striggio's 40-voice Ecce beatam lucem. Also included are two extraordinary canons: Ockeghem's 36-voice Deo gratias and Josquin's 24-voice Qui habitat--as well as relatively modest pieces for 13 to 16 voices by Porta and Gabrieli. Spem has had livelier performances (try the Tallis Scholars on Gimell), but none ...
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Great Choral Classics from King's Choir of King's College, Cambridge
from: Decca
: :A greatly expanded Huelgas Ensemble performs here a collection of multivoice works--pieces that are often referred to but, for logistical reasons, rarely performed. Tallis's famous Spem in alium non habui for 40 voices is here, of course; so is the piece that inspired it, Striggio's 40-voice Ecce beatam lucem. Also included are two extraordinary canons: Ockeghem's 36-voice Deo gratias and Josquin's 24-voice Qui habitat--as well as relatively modest pieces for 13 to 16 voices by Porta and Gabrieli. Spem has had livelier performances (try the Tallis Scholars on Gimell), but none ...
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