Chart success for The Tallis Scholars' Spem in alium
09 July 2012
The literary sensation that is E L James "50 Shades of Grey" has delivered bumper sales for The Tallis Scholars' recording of the 40-part Renaissance motet Spem in alium by Thomas Tallis which has been riding high in the US Classical Album Charts for many weeks and is today at number 7 in the UK Classical Singles Chart.
Spem in alium is available as a single track download on iTunes (just search on iTunes for Tallis Scholars Spem in alium) and as part of a specially-priced 2CD set The Tallis Scholars sing Thomas Tallis available on iTunes, Amazon, all good CD stores and directly from the Gimell Records website as a Download or on CD by mail-order.
Peter
Phillips, the founder and director of The Tallis Scholars, said:
"I haven't read 50 Shades of Grey but I am most
grateful to the author for introducing so many new listeners to the musical
sensation that is Thomas Tallis's Spem
in alium. Written during the reign of the first Queen Elizabeth it
features 40 individual voices singing in Latin that combine to a thrilling
climax for the words "respice humilitatem nostram" (be mindful of our
humiliation). If you are in the UK please buy The Tallis Scholars recording today from iTunes and we
might just replace Nessun Dorma
at the top of the Classical Singles Chart! "
In her blog on NPR Anastasia Tsioulcas writes:
this Tallis Scholars recording would definitely be on my own list of desert island albums, and anything that gets this gorgeousness out in front of a (much, much) wider audience is great