Customer Reviews

Heavenly Harmonies - Music of Thomas Tallis & William Byrd

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Their first cd - Music for Compline - introduced a young Renaissance ensemble capable of creating vocal harmonies of pristine beauty while obviously relishing the musical perfection they created with a joy bordering on ecstasy: perfect for deeply religious music. Their striking ability to convey the ecstatic religious vision is what made that initial release so memorable. Their second CD release is an even deeper, more personal exploration of the fascinating leitmotif that distinguished the Music for Compline.

The Elizabethan era was marked by religious turmoil that roiled the realm: the Catholicism of the late Queen Mary, now officially suppressed under Elizabeth, was still selectively tolerated, producing profound social tensions that were reflected in the lives and music of two of England's finest composers, William Byrd and Thomas Tallis. Byrd's Catholicism is powerfully evident in his Motets, which were written for recusant Catholics, practicing their faith in secret, forced to furtively celebrate Mass in hidden rooms where priests lived concealed, often for years. Byrd's masterful setting of the Motets' Latin texts usually contained subversive political overtones, messages not lost on those risking all by still embracing an outlawed faith. The Motets brilliantly explore the expressive capabilities of choral polyphony with a response to the emotional qualities of the text that is deeply sensuous: featuring satiny vocal textures and lush harmonies of aching beauty that hint at the loss of paradise and a mingling of sorrow and hope.

Tallis wrote his psalm tunes in 1567, a paradigm of the Protestant musical aesthetic, with their vocal austerity in which the clarity of the biblical words is essential. There is no need for concealment here, everything is illuminated. Stile Antico have once again released a concert in which the strife of two clashing religious cultures is reflected in the music, creating a splendid musical tension. And as an almost subliminal subtext, this tension produces a sonic narrative that adds weight to the purely musical elements. Paradoxically, the relative lightness of the vocal textures combines with the added depth of (background) meaning and with the profundity of the biblical text to produce a rare musical sublimity. Stile Antico create a sonorous portrait of a powerful religious faith: compelled to worship, even under circumstances most dire, in music of such unearthly beauty that it seems to suspend time. There is a relationship between faith and beauty, and here, stripped of all superfluities, that relationship is explored with matchless grace and skill. Heavenly Harmonies is an appropriate name for a concert lasting nearly 80 minutes, but which seems to pass in an instant. The Hybrid SACD sound is crystalline with proper church reverberation lending added heft to the vocal textures. This CD offers a timeless heavenly vision as glimpsed by two of the finest of Renaissance composers. Mere praise may not do it justice. Listen for yourself and discover what beauty once graced the world. Most strongly recommended.

Mike Birman

I thoroughly enjoyed Stile Antico's previous album, "Music for Compline," and was delighted when I found out about their new release, "Heavenly Harmonies." Fans of the group's previous album will not be disappointed in this one, which definitely lives up to the title of "Heavenly Harmonies."

The tracks alternate between selections from Archbishop Parker's Psalter by Tallis and motets by Byrd. Tallis originally wrote the psalm-tune settings as functional church pieces, and they usually don't have much inspirational power. Stile Antico, however, has an uncanny ability to breathe new life into old music. They are a group of around 13 young singers with no conductor, and their fresh perspective on early music makes listening to it a pleasure. The Byrd motets are similarly well-performed.

In my review of "Music for Compline," I gave lots of praise and favorable comparisons of Stile Antico to the Tallis Scholars, which need not be repeated here. Suffice it to say that Stile Antico is more than capable of giving the Tallis Scholars a run for their money as the premier early music acapella vocal ensemble.

I highly recommend "Heavenly Harmonies," which is peaceful, uplifting, and beautiful.

These are good performances in a terrific acoustic. The CD Layer is terrific but the SACD 5.0 layer is phenomenal. The disc lags a bit through the duration. The first cuts are well worth the price. Their Music for Compline disc is more captivating but may just be my personal sensibilities.

The first things a listerner with a surround sound system will probably notice is the sumptuousness of separation, the crystal clarity of voices, and the majesty of polyphony. In alternating sequence of Thomas Tallis psalm tunes and William Byrd motets, this nearly 79-minute hybrid SACD/CD album is another grand contribution of Stile Antico to early music interpretations. The compositions, I was surprised to learn, were meant for home gatherings, not the church and cathedral. Thus, the tunes are fairly straight forward without complex counterpoint. The emphasis is on the words and, in many cases in the Bryd pieces, their specific meaning for Catholics, who were suppressed in Tudor times. Fortunately, we are spared neighborhood choristers and instead hear top professionals. The sopranos seem to soar above the clouds. While I prefer complexities and innovations in music, these sacred tunes, besides their religious and political history, have dignity and serenity.

Fabulous recording - Stile Antico are simply one of the best groups around at this moment in time, and I love their interpretations of this music. I've listened to this CD on headphones many times and gloried in both the actual music, and the astonishing teamwork of this group. Can't recommend it highly enough.