Something about hearing this music by this choir adds to the unmistakable air of authenticity. The flighty boy sopranos, vibrant, distant acoustic, and the coolness of the lower men’s voices project this music by three from the difficult and turmoil-laden Tudor times with a regal glory and spiritual ambiance. The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge has been an EMI mainstay for many years, and Stephen Cleobury has admirably kept the torches held very, very high.
But that is not only what we get here; the remarkably facile group Fretwork add their skills to the mix not only with some wonderful fretwork (pardon the pun) but allow a mix of instrumental and even solo vocal accompaniment to be added to this well-conceived program of anthems and consort music. This certainly cannot be listed as the last word in the music, for many have tackled it before with great success. But it is a fine recording in excellent sound by a tried and true combination, sure to please their many fans and indoctrinate quite a number of new ones, I’m sure.
The back of the disc tells me to pop this CD into my computer to obtain all sorts of special features. Obediently, I do so, and sure enough after giving away some vitally personal information like birth date and email address, I am admitted. The stuff looks pretty good, a video of Rattle discussing the Mahler ninth, a Jacqueline Du Pre performance and other tidbits. Whether or not it will be worth the undoubted spam I will now get from the company remains to seen—I’ll keep you posted. But this process [called OpenDisc] was voluntary, and should not hold you back from getting this disc!
— Steven Ritter
