Taverner Consort & Choir, Andrew Parrott - Thomas Tallis: Spem in Alium, Latin Church Music (1989) 2CDs, Reissue 2003

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Taverner Consort & Choir, Andrew Parrott - Thomas Tallis: Spem in Alium, Latin Church Music (1989) 2CDs, Reissue 2003

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Thankfully, this set is once again widely available. Cited by Andrew Carwood as an important influence on his own musical development, it is warmly phrased and deserves repeated listening. Parrott’s preoccupation with the potential non-existence of the historical countertenor leads to a performance of the first set of Tallis’s Lamentations of Jeremiah topped by high tenors. The resulting texture is rich, oaken and wonderfully intimate.

Gramophone Magazine, Collection Recommendation

I am delighted to say that this version of Spem in alium has just been chosen as the best available by Radio 3's Building A Library. I agree - it's fantastic. My original review is below:

This is a fabulous set. It contains most of Tallis's most beautiful music, all gloriously sung. The large scale Spem in alium and Gaude gloriosa Dei Mater are both overwhelming in their skill, sensitivity and grandeur, with the delicate passages and great sonorities both beautifully expressed, and the smaller, more intimate works are generally exquisitely done. For me, the real highlight is The Lamentations Of Jeremiah. Of all the excellent recordings which exist, including the haunting plangency of The Hilliard Ensemble and the perfect brilliance of The Tallis Scholars, this is my favourite. It laments without being oppressive, and Parrott's choice of lower pitch means that the sound is rich and resonant, with the basses descending to a positively spine-tingling depth at "Ierusalem, Ierusalem" in the First Set.
With the excellent Andrew Parrott directing and the Taverner Consort littered with what have become star names like Emily van Evera, Caroline Trevor, John Mark Ainsley and Rogers Covey-Crump (to name but a few) one would expect something really special and this set doesn't disappoint in any way. As an introduction to Tallis you couldn't do better, I think, and for the seasoned Tallis listener it is a treat of impeccable singing, beautiful interpretation and wonderful, resonant sound.

This is a simply brilliant re-issue, and at this price an unmissable bargain. It is a treasured gem of my collection, and I can recommend it wholeheartedly.

Review by Sid Nuncius (#1 HALL OF FAME; TOP 50 REVIEWER), Amazon.co.uk

This top value double CD came out as the leading recommendation for the famous 40 part showpiece motet "Spem in alium" in the recent Radio 3 Record Review and for good reason: the sound is unimpeachable, the balance between the voices ideal, their intonation flawless, the selection of pieces very representative of Tallis' enduring genius over a long career whereby he served under four monarchs and kept his head as a recusant Catholic - indeed the longest item here, the "Gaude gloriosa" antiphon, was already slightly old-fashioned when it was composed.

Recorded twenty years ago now, several of the singers here have now progressed on to important solo careers but chief among them remains the lovely Tessa Bonner, her crystalline soprano soaring above the stave and maintaining that relentless tessitura centred on an A flat throughout the ten long, complex highly demanding minutes of "Spem in alium". There are only nineteen singers and some might prefer either a bigger or indeed a smaller choir - but no OVPP for me, thanks, and I won't be throwing out competitive recordings by such as the Tallis choir or the Oxford Camerata. However, anyone wanting a survey of Tallis' finest liturgical music will appreciate this album.

The perfect acoustic with just the right amount of resonance frames a sound which Tallis cultivated in response to the rise of a desire for blocks of chordal, homophonic harmony as opposed to the more melismatic style which preceded his era. The Taverner choir sing in complete unity, blending beautifully and producing a sparer sound than the Tallis group, while Andrew Parrott's beat is a little brisker; sometimes I'd like just a little more lingering over the descending scales and the celebrated concluding "English cadences".

I suggest avoiding the risk of polyphonic indigestion by staggering your listening to these stately motets; sample only a few at a time.

Review by Ralph Moore, Amazon.co.uk

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Taverner Consort & Choir, Andrew Parrott - Thomas Tallis: Spem in Alium, Latin Church Music (1989) 2CDs, Reissue 2003

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Taverner Consort & Choir, Andrew Parrott - Thomas Tallis: Spem in Alium, Latin Church Music (1989) 2CDs, Reissue 2003

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Taverner Consort & Choir, Andrew Parrott - Thomas Tallis: Spem in Alium, Latin Church Music (1989) 2CDs, Reissue 2003

Close