Customer Reviews

Victoria: Tenebrae Responsories

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Though graced by superb voices, this CD is a demonstration of Philips' tendency toward questionable musicianship. Bizarre part registrations and terrible intra-ensemble balance often conspire to completely obliterate Victoria's carefully crafted polyphony and undermine some remarkable sonorities. As someone who's performed several of the responsories I was disappointed by a seeming lack of interpretive uniformity. Thought it presents a unique and interesting performance, I woud recommend this not be the only recording of Victoria's Tenebrae Responsories in anyone's collection.

This is, as far as I know, the best recording of the Tenebrae Responsories from Victoria. The Tallis Scholars sing them with clarity; although I am a trained musician and use the scores while listening these pieces, I think every person can perceive the clear structure, the articulation and the melody of each one of the four voices. Recommended!

These responses for the late night/early morning services of Holy Week are truly masterpieces and The Tallis Scholars perform them effectively. When the music calls for subdued performance, the Tallis Scholars are subdued-When it calls for angry performance, the Tallis Scholars are angry, etc. This is the perfect recording to put you in the mood for Holy Week--to truly contemplate the sorrows. The music, produced by the Spanish Rennaissance, is truly surperior and so unique to most everything else. This is a great buy!

--Tomas Luis de Victoria--
Often considered the greatest of the Spanish composers, Tomas Luis de Victoria (Italianised as Tommaso Luigi da Vittoria) was born in Avila in 1549. He was trained in church music as he trained for the priesthood with the Jesuits; one of his teachers may have been the great Palestrina in Rome. He was ordained in Rome by the last pre-Reformation English Catholic bishop in Rome. He served in various music and clerical positions under papal auspices in Italy before returning to his native Spain in the late 1500s. His music incorporates the mystical sense of religion as well as the strong church-music traditions. He died in Madrid in 1611.

St. Teresa of Avila, Velasquez and El Greco were all contemporaries of Victoria - the associations and influences are very similar, and worth further exploration.

--Tenebrae Responsories--
Together with the Requiem (also recorded brilliantly by the Tallis Scholars), this piece sets the reputation of Victoria as a composer of note. Tenebrae Responsories are part of the traditional liturgical cycle during Holy Week - in Victoria's time, the Roman Catholic Church would have these, Lamentations, Jeremiah, and other means to work toward increasing sorrow and darkness as the world approached Good Friday and Holy Saturday. The Responsories here would not have been sung as a set, but rather divided as appropriate among several services. They are extreme in simplicity - Victoria doesn't let the musical settings overpower the words, which are very important for setting mood here. Victoria complements the words. The music alternates between solos and duets to four-voice parts, rarely expanding beyond this.

--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 the 'Veil of St. Veronica', by Francisco de Zurbaran, who was roughly a contemporary of Tomas Luis deVictoria.

--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 Victoria 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 fascinating. The music on this disc was originally recorded in 1990 at the Church of St. John at Hackney, London.