Related Reviews
theclassicalreview.com a joy to listen to from beginning to end more >>
Classica The Tallis Scholars have discovered how to translate the world of the Spanish composer Victoria, in all his Latinity and unique sonorities more >>
musicalcriticism.com Their combination of ultra-refined and disciplined singing has had an enormous effect on the way polyphony has been sung for 30 years, and it's a great pleasure to see that their influence and excellence shows no sign of waning. more >>
The Times Victoria, Spain's 16th-century master composer, at his most eloquent. more >>
The Observer (London) The recording is glorious. more >>
Musicweb an outstanding release that celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of Gimell in the most distinguished manner possible more >>
The Sunday Times great music for such an occasion — intense, condensed and directly and darkly expressive more >>
The Guardian One of the greatest achievements of Spanish Golden Age polyphony more >>

All Reviews >>

should bring chills to even the most hardened listener

06 June 2010
Boston Globe
David Weininger

Stalwarts of the early-music world, the Tallis Scholars mark the 30th anniversary of Gimell Records, their recording label, with this release, which is also the label’s 50th new recording. Rather than opt for celebratory fare, the Scholars and director Peter Phillips present music for the darkest part of the liturgical calendar: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. The settings are by the Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611), whose music has a dark expressiveness all its own. (Also included is a version by the Mexican composer Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla.)

Among other things, the recording shows how little the group’s sonic profile has changed over the years. One hears the same miraculously even blend of voices that the Tallis Scholars have honed over the years. But they also honor the intensity of Victoria’s music, as in the dramatic Second Lamentation for Maundy Thursday (“The daughter of Sion has lost all her beauty’’). Each section ends with the invocation “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, turn to the Lord, your God.’’ The last of those nine settings, scored for eight voices, has a monumentality that should bring chills to even the most hardened listener.

Reproduced from the Boston Globe.

Related Links

should bring chills to even the most hardened listener