Stile Antico: Passion & Resurrection
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Label: Harmonia Mundi
Cat No: HMU807555
Format: Hybrid SACD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Vocal/Choral
Release Date: 5th November 2012
Contents
Works
In Resurrectione tuaWoefully arrayed
Congratulamini mihi
Hosanna to the Son of David
I am the Resurrection
Maria Magdalene
In monte Oliveti
Surrexit pastor bonus
Woefully arrayed
O crux, ave
O sacrum convivium
Dum transisset
O vos omnes
Artists
Stile AnticoAbout
Stile Antico is the benchmark ensemble of young British singers, working without a director and conducting much of their own artistic research for their programmes and concise, yet entertaining booklet notes. Much in demand in concert, the group performs regularly throughout Europe and North America. Their recordings on harmonia mundi have enjoyed great success, winning awards, including the 2009 Early Music Gramophone Award for 'Song of Songs'.
Their performances have repeatedly been praised for their vitality and commitment, expressive lucidity and imaginative response to text. Stile Antico’s recent engagements include débuts at the BBC Proms, London’s Wigmore and Cadogan Halls, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, early music festivals in Boston, Bruges, Barcelona and Utrecht, and at the Cervantino Festival in Mexico. The group has toured extensively with Sting, appearing across Europe, Australia and the Far East as part of his Dowland project 'Songs from the Labyrinth', and is regularly invited to lead courses at Dartington International Summer School.
Sound/Video
Paused
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1Cornysh - Woefully arrayed
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2Gibbons - Hosanna to the Son of David
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3Tallis - O sacrum convivium
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4de Lassus - In monte oliveti
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5Victoria - O vos omnes
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6McCabe - Woefully arrayed
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7Guerrero - Maria Magdalene
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8Lheritier - Surrexit pastor bonus
Europadisc Review
The run-up to Christmas might seem an odd time to release a recording of ‘music inspired by Holy Week’, but the works contained here are all remarkable enough, and the performances so luminously executed, that they will repay listening at any season.
Earliest is the piece that opens the disc, Woefully arrayed, a hauntingly lovely devotional carol with a Passiontide theme by the early sixteenth-century English composer William Cornysh. The anonymous text, thought to be by John Skelton, explores from Christ’s viewpoint the emotions surrounding the Crucifixion. Originally intended for domestic use, it is difficult to imagine it ever having sounded quite as wondrous as it does here in the hands of Stile Antico. By contrast, the expansive Easter respond Dum transisset by Cornysh’s younger contemporary John Taverner takes us very much into ecclesiastical surroundings, with the sort of gloriously soaring, limpid treble lines at which this group excels.
Three more greats of Tudor music are represented here: Thomas Tallis by the expressive arcs of his Corpus Christi motet O sacrum convivium (to words by Thomas Aquinas), William Byrd by the compact but splendidly virtuosic Easter motet In resurrectione tua, and Orlando Gibbons by the arrestingly uplifting Hosanna to the Son of David and the more sober delights of his earlier I am the Resurrection and the Life.
The earliest of the three Flemish composers included here is Jean Lhéritier, a pupil of Josquin who was active in Italy. In his setting of the Easter respond Surrexit pastor bonus the singers adopt a brighter, more focused sound, emphasising the music’s bold yet concentrated harmonic intensity. This marvellously inward yet dazzling music is surely one of the highlights of this disc. Another Easter respond, Congratulamini mihi by Lhéritier’s compatriot Thomas Crecquillon, is a joyful affair with florid, cascading vocal lines. The Flemish contingent is completed by Orlando de Lassus’s motet In monte Oliveti, bringing out the expressive potential of Christ’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Even more intense are the works of the three Spaniards: the long-breathed phrases of Cristóbal de Morales’s O crux, ave are ideally suited to Stile Antico’s distinctive sound, while Francisco Guerrero’s Maria Magdalene, setting a famous Easter text from St Mark’s Gospel, is a joyously rich example of tightly-woven polyphony, and Tomás Luis de Victoria’s O vos omnes demonstrates his peerless handling of four-part textures to maximum expressive effect.
This array of priceless Renaissance jewels, interwoven to provide an expressive ebb and flow in a recital context, is further complemented by John McCabe’s 2009 adaptation of Woefully arrayed, composed expressly for Stile Antico. They are alive to all the demands of this fascinatingly nuanced setting, as they are throughout the disc. With an ideally resonant acoustic, imaginative programming, detailed and informative notes, matchlessly alert and expressive singing, and beautifully blended tone throughout, this recording can be heartily recommended!
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