Renaissance Radio – The Tallis Scholars/ Peter Phillips [TrackList follows] – Gimell CD212 (2 CDs), 2:32:00 [Distr. by Harmonia mundi] ****:
The strange title of this set refers to the fact that when the Tallis Scholars first started in 1973 sacred vocal music from the Renaissance was never heard on classical radio. Now it has been firmly established in the repertory, in no small part due to the efforts of Phillips’s remarkable group, surely at the top of the heap of all such ensembles, if not quite peerless. Now here, in an effort to celebrate their fortieth anniversary, the group has elected to release a well-documented and text-full package of selections taken from their vast catalog. The composers and pieces are too numerous to enumerate, but you will find, Lassus, Gesualdo, Tallis, Victoria, Cornysh, Byrd, and others in performances that simply are not to be bettered, though in collections like this they are excised from larger works. For some people, fans of the ensemble (like me) or those who have large medieval and renaissance collections will most likely find this superfluous, but for those just starting out, or who wish a decent quality sampler of the era, this set will prove ideal. The 47 tracks, each less than about six minutes long, range from 1973 to the 2012 Jean Mouton disc. Quite a tasty sampler for those in the mood.
TrackList: Disc 1
1 Miserere Gregorio Allegri 5:50 2 Ave Maria… virgo serena Josquin Desprez 5:26 3 Descendi in hortum meum Cipriano de Rore 5:27 4 Ego flos campi Jacobus Clemens Non Papa 4:10 5 Salva nos, Domine Jean Mouton 2:30 6 Ave regina caelorum Orlande de Lassus 3:52 7 Salve regina Orlande de Lassus 3:57 8 Joseph lieber, Joseph mein Hieronymus Praetorius 2:32 Missa L’homme armé sexti toni 9 Agnus Dei 3 Josquin Desprez 4:15 Missa Et ecce terrae motus 10 Agnus Dei 2 Antoine Brumel 3:29 Missa Brevis 11 Agnus Dei 2 Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 3:06 12 Sicut lilium inter spinas Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina 4:44 13 Precibus et meritis Carlo Gesualdo 3:02 14 Maria, mater gratiae Carlo Gesualdo 3:42 15 Ave virgo sanctissima Francisco Guerrero 3:59 16 Ave Maria Tomás Luis de Victoria 2:16 17 O vos omnes (from Tenebrae Responsories) Tomás Luis de Victoria 2:53 Requiem 18 Kyrie Tomás Luis de Victoria 2:36 19 Graduale Tomás Luis de Victoria 3:10 20 Versa est in luctum Tomás Luis de Victoria 3:50 TrackList: Disc 2Lamentations 1 1 Incipit Thomas Tallis 1:21 2 Aleph Thomas Tallis 2:39 3 Beth Thomas Tallis 4:48 4 Mihi autem nimis Thomas Tallis 2:37 5 O sacrum convivium Thomas Tallis 3:39 6 O nata lux Thomas Tallis 2:03 7 Miserere nostri Thomas Tallis 2:32 8 Leroy Kyrie John Taverner 3:33 Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas 9 [Excerpt] John Taverner 2:58 10 Ave Maria William Cornysh 3:10 11 Christe qui lux es 3 Robert White 4:54 12 In manus tuas 1 John Sheppard 3:28 13 In manus tuas 2 John Sheppard 2:55 14 In manus tuas 3 John Sheppard 2:55 Mass for four voices 15 Agnus Dei William Byrd 3:18 16 If ye love me Thomas Tallis 2:04 17 Hear the voice and prayer Thomas Tallis 3:05 18 A new commandment Thomas Tallis 2:42 Psalm Tunes 19 Why fum’th in fight Thomas Tallis 0:57 20 Even like the hunted hind Thomas Tallis 0:52 21 God grant we grace Thomas Tallis 1:03 22 Come Holy Ghost Thomas Tallis 0:41 23 When David heard Thomas Tomkins 4:26 24 Sing joyfully William Byrd 2:48 25 O God, the proud are risen William Byrd 3:03 26 O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth William Byrd 2:51 27 Nunc dimittis (from the Great Service) William Byrd 5:20
—Steven Ritter