Customer Reviews

Tallis: Spem in Alium

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
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Whereas Dominican Friars are carolling all the way to the (charitable) bank with their recently in-vogue CD's of medieval chants juxtaposed against New Age beats, there waits the Tallis Scholars group with a more serious interpretation of this venerable church music. "Spem in alium" is a superb recording of the antiphonal choral music composed by Oxford's musical giant of times past, Thomas Tallis. Featuring a variety of his choral music for ensembles both intimate and grand, these gifted singers exemplify outstanding vocal skill, brilliant acoustic engineering (Merton College chapel, I believe), sensitive and scholarly interpretation, and (most important) historical authenticity--no Enigma beats here. For a true musical experience of this centuries-old style, head straight for the Old Guard and purchase this CD for serious appreciation.

Spem in Alium was Tallis' Doctoral Thesis, and thus a piece intended to display his complete mastery of techniques in liturgical music. Though outlandish in its conception, it was not particularly innovative or experimental. However, as a forty-part motet, it's form is cerainly rare if not wholly unique. Tallis compositional idiosyncracies aside, this CD is absolutely first-rate. There are other recordings of Spem in Alium (and the other of Tallis' works on this CD) nearly as good -- but none finer. The singing is all beautifully clear and manages to be warmly emotional without being Romantic. The accoustic is superb, full and alive without being cloudy, and, like all Gimell recordings I've heard, the actual recording quality is as near to perfect as can be -- which means you hear everything in the music, but are not particulary aware of the recording as a recording. Whether or not you like early music, or liturgical music, or choral music, or English music, or any combination of them: all you have to do to be impressed and completely delighted with this CD is like music. Any kind of music. No one should be without this -- no matter what the rest of their collection consists of. A great record in every way.

--Thomas Tallis-
Thomas Tallis, born in 1505, was one of the outstanding liturgical composers of his day, being the acknowledged master of the composers of England from the time of Queen Mary's reign forward. He was a composer and Gentleman of the Chapel Royal during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary, and Elizabeth, and worked closely with many other composers, most particularly William Byrd. He was an organist in addition to composer. He died in 1585, having navigated his way through the tumultuous catholic/protestant difficulties of the church which provided his livelihood and creative outlet.

--Spem in alium--
This piece, Spem in alium numquam habui (I have no faith in any other [than God]), is Tallis' most famous piece. It is a 40-part motet, set up for eight five-part choirs. It is a masterpiece. Tallis blended the chordal with the polyphonic here, to great effect. The number of voices makes for interesting effects, particularly when done in cathedral settings. Several stories have appeared about why this work was composed, but in the end, it remains unknown.

--Other music--
Other pieces included on this disc include Tallis' Sancte Deus, one of his early works, done during the reign of Henry VIII, and two settings of Salvator mundi, salva nos. These are rather smaller pieces, particularly in comparison with Spem in alium. Gaude gloriosa is more in keeping with Spem in alium, in terms of length and phrasing. The Miserere is a seven-part technical masterpiece very close in form to traditional English canonical settings. The final piece, Loquebantur variis linguis, is a seven-voice chant.

--Liner Notes--
Being internationally acclaimed, the Tallis Scholars' CDs typically present their commentary and texts in English, French, German and Italian (together with any Latin texts); that is true of this disc. The cover art also typically represents visual arts contemporary with the compositions - here it is a piece from the Munich collection of Alte Pinakothek by Albrecht Durer in 1500, roughly contemporary with Tallis.

--The Tallis Scholars--
The Tallis Scholars, a favourite group of mine since the first time I heard them decades ago, are a group dedicated to the performance and preservation of the best of this type of music. A choral group of exceptional ability, I have been privileged to see them many times in public, and at almost every performance, their singing seems almost like a spiritual epiphany for me, one that defies explanation in words. Directed by Peter Phillips, the group consists of a small number of male and female singers who have trained themselves well to their task.

Their recordings are of a consistent quality that deserve more than five stars; this particular disc of pieces by Thomas Tallis, the namesake of the group, deserves a place on the shelf of anyone who loves choral music, liturgical music or Gregorian chant, classical music generally, or religious music. It is remarkable, both in composition and performance. The original recording was made in 1985.

The Tallis Scholars recording of their namesake's "Spem in alium" is a crystal-clear, though somewhat ungenerous disc (forty-three minutes) that has become a warhorse in my musical collection.

As with all the Tallis Scholars recordings that I have heard, "Spem in Alium" is a thing of true beauty. I rank it alongside their recording of Palestrina's assumption Mass and Obrecht's Missa Maria Zart as some of their best work.

"Spem in alium" is something to hear. There are very few pieces of early music that even come close to its scope or grandeur. I suggest waiting until you are all alone in the house and then cranking the volume way up--it is the only proper way to truly drink in this music.

Yet, for as great as the grand title track is, the real jewel for me on this recording is the "Gaude gloriosa." One cannot listen to this stirring, intense music without being moved.

This program of music, though short, is very well put together. The singing is first rate. The recording captures everything perfectly. I highly recommend this CD.
.

I had generally avoided this musical period, and had been ignorant of Thomas Tallis until hearing the version of Spem in Alium on the Kronos Quartet's disc Black Angels. Curiosity compelled me to seek out this performance, incomparably superior to the other:

A lone soprano voice seems to float, weightless, on a sea composed of the other singers' voices. Although we have no way of knowing how the composer intended the piece to sound (the liner notes reveal that even Tallis' reason for composing Spem in Alium is unknown), its success may be judged on the merits of the present performance. From that standpoint, it is a perfect blend of explosive power and unspeakable beauty, in its pure expression perhaps unequaled by anything that followed. Hearing it is a soul-expanding experience, as it must have been for its listeners half a millennium ago.

I am a heavy metal "music" fan,with at times,a bit of rock,pop and soul entering the cd player/put on the venerable lp machine.My forays into classical are about as frequent as the proverbial rocking horse poo.However,this disc is the one I probably play most often.Why?Because it's beauty is unsurpassed.It is the only piece of music that has brought a tear to my eye.As someone above wrote,crank it up when the kids/breadknife/hubby are out of the house and you will be treated to sonic joy.

Spem in Alium is like a word you hadn't heard before and now that you know it you hear it used everywhere. I remember hearing it in music school for the first time and was stunned. But then I forgot about it and then heard it again on the radio (probably the WONDERFUL CBC2)and then ran over to the late lamented SKR Classical here in Ann Arbor and bought this disk.

The piece just builds and builds layer upon layer - it is a piece all about texture. It is ingeniously constructed of eight five voice choirs to achieve its forty separate parts. It is a joy to listen to again and again. I agree with another reviewer that the Gaude gloriosa is a magnificent work. The Miserere nostri is also a jewel.

This belongs in your collection.

Thomas Tallis's music is so thick -- such a beautiful, moving massage for your mind. Spem in Alium, his 40 voice motet, is easily the most fluid of all the motets we have of great numbers of voices. It's just so intense. This is firmamental architecture that can transform the chair you're sitting on into a cloud. Even after such a monumental piece of music, nothing afterward on the cd disappoints or lets up in amazing, brilliant contrapuntal composition. One does wish there were more pieces on the cd, but what there is is thoroughly satisfying. The last piece, so perfectly, makes a puissant point of leaving you elated when the cd ends. Of all music from the 15th & 16th centuries in Europe, Thomas Tallis's is the first I recommend, & this cd is the best of his work, to be sure.

Spem in Alium is just amazing!
I'm a big fan of choral music but had not really got my head around exactly how complex it could get.
Until I heard this one.

There are at least 15 recordings on the market of Thomas Tallis's 40-voice motet "Spem in Alium." I've heard perhaps half of them; this CD, recorded first in 1985, is typical. It may not be the worst or the best, but it hardly matters. None of them bear listening to. The piece has to be heard live, with all eight choirs of five voices distributed for maximum separation. It's utterly impossible to "hear" the intricate polyphony, crafted by Tallis to avoid domination by any one choir or voice, on even a very high-end sound system. I think this would still be true if the recording didn't distort the voices in direct proportion to the square of the number of singers, but that is exactly the effect I hear on every CD of Spem in Alium - tinnier, raspier timbres as the chords get thicker, until I simply pray for a solo passage. The only reason I could offer for buying one of these Spem disks is to get acquainted with the concept of Tallis's masterpiece, so that you'll be readier to hear it live if you ever have a chance.

The other six motets on this CD, also by Tallis, don't please me much more. The recording quality is still prone to white-noise most of the time. It's ironic that the Tallis Scholars should produce one of their weakest performances with the music of the composer they've named themselves after. Tallis was a successful, well-esteemed composer in the era of Elizabeth I, despite his Catholicism. He died a wealthy man from his music, something many musicians today might envy. Committed to styles of polyphony already unfashionable in Italy and France, Tallis composed to his own inner metronome. All the pieces on this CD are finely crafted, but the Tallis Scholars make them sound lugubrious. The Scholars, I have to confess, often fail to excite me. Singing with just two on a part, they manage to sound like a large choir, and that's not intended as praise. They're mushy in tuning, not crisp in articulation, not balanced in voicing. The sopranos always overwhelm the inner voices, and the basses have no authoritative independence. Many of the same highly skilled singers - Mark Padmore and Robert Harre-Jones, for instance - can be heard with pleasure in other ensembles, leading me to suspect that conductor Peter Phillips might be the heart of the problem, his heavy sensibility and his preference for women singers on a repertoire written for boys and men. I don't want to dismiss the Tallis Scholars out of hand, however. Their recordings of Josquin, Ockeghem, and Isaac are certainly worth hearing, but I can't recommend this Tallis by Tallis disk for anything but a garage sale.