There is such a
wealth of beautiful music here,
excellently performed and recorded.
It comes on four very well-filled
CDs offered as 2-for-1 packages.
I scarcely know where to begin,
except to recommend both sets in
the strongest possible terms and
to make them my joint Bargain of
the Month. Had I not received them
as review copies, I should most
definitely have bought them or downloaded
those items which I didn’t already
own from the Gimell website, where
they can be obtained in very decent
320k mp3 sound or in lossless, CD-quality.
The first CD of
Volume 1 contains the complete contents
of the John Browne recording (CDGIM036),
already a generous 71 minutes long,
and adds the Cornysh Gaude virgo.
I recently compared that Gimell
recording with the versions sung
by The Sixteen and Harry Christophers,
the latter spread across three of
the five Coro recordings of the
music from The Eton Choirbook, available
separately or as a 5-for-3 offer
(COR16040). The new format of the
Gimell recordings makes for even
better value than Coro’s 5-CD set.
Rather than repeat
the detailed comparison which I
made between the two interpretations
of John Browne, I refer you to the
original article.
I’ll merely remind you that I consider
John Browne to be arguably the greatest
English composer before Tallis,
that I marginally preferred the
Tallis versions of this music to
those of The Sixteen, and that my
Musicweb colleague JF was just as
enthusiastic about these performances
as I am, writing: "Near perfect
music from the late fifteenth century
sung in glorious style. A most moving
and satisfying disc." – see
review.
With the addition of the Cornysh
work, this first CD is worth the
cost of the whole volume on its
own.
Cornysh reappears
on CD2 with two more pieces from
CDGIM014. The only possible reason
that anyone might have for complaint
is that these three pieces will
make you want to buy the parent
CD, which also contains three setting
of English words, including the
marvellous Woefully arrayed.
This second CD of Volume 1 is rounded
off by two Mass settings, by John
Taverner and Christopher Tye, both
based on the secular tune Western
Wynde.
In recommending
the first-rate version of the Taverner
on Hyperion’s low-price Helios label
(CDH55056, The Sixteen/Harry Christophers,
Bargain of the Month – see review)
I also recommended the Tallis Scholar’s
recordings of three Tudor masses
based on the Western Wynde
theme (CDGIM027) as "a well-filled
CD with excellent performances and
recording." Now the contents
of that disc are offered in a form
which makes them commensurate value-wise
with the Helios. In fact, both Gimell
and Hyperion versions are now offered
so inexpensively that you could
buy both without too great an outlay,
thereby obtaining some other excellent
works by Taverner – and don’t forget
the other Taverner Mass recordings
on Helios CDH55051, 55052, 55053,
55054 and 55055.
The Gimell timings
for the Taverner Mass are slightly
slower than those on Hyperion: as
usual, where the Tallis Scholars
savour the more reflective aspects
of the music, The Sixteen stress
its sheer excitement – which is
not to say that either group misses
any important aspects of what the
other stresses. The only possible
reasons for not buying Volume 1
of these new Gimell sets would be
the intention to spend the money
on the complete Helios CDs or a
desire to obtain Gimell’s own all-Taverner
coupling of the Western Wynde
Mass with the Gloria tibi Trinitas
Mass and Kyrie Leroi
(CDGIM004).
Even if, like me,
you already own that all-Taverner
disc, you should still buy Volume
1 for the sake of the Tye Western
Wynde Mass, unless you believe
that Tye’s connection with Ely Cathedral
makes it essential to have the present-day
successors of his choristers sing
his music (ASV CDGAU190 – not currently
available). If the Western Wynde
Mass makes you want to look for
other music by Tye, you could do
much worse than the Oxford Camerata
in the Euge bone Mass (Naxos
8.550937).
The ubiquitous
Western Wynde tune reappears
as the cantus firmus of a
third Mass, this time on CD1 of
Volume 2, by John Sheppard, where
it joins the contents of another
Sheppard CD, CDGIM016. Once again,
the major challenge comes from The
Sixteen on Hyperion – one of two
Dyad 2CDs-for-1 sets of Sheppard’s
music, CDD22022, on which Latin
works, including the Western
Wynde Mass, are juxtaposed with
later music for the Anglican service.
Again, too, The Sixteen are marginally
faster than the Tallis Scholars
in the Mass, though by a smaller
margin than in the Taverner – there’s
a mere seven-second difference in
the Agnus Dei, for example.
Once more, it’s swings and roundabouts
between the two groups – and both
are now offered at effectively bargain
price. If there’s anything in it,
the actual Western Wynde
tune comes over slightly more clearly
against the polyphonic texture on
the Gimell recording. If I hadn’t
long ago bought three of the four
Sheppard/Sixteen CDs when they were
issued separately at full price,
I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase
CDD22022 or its companion disc to
complement the Gimell recordings.
Finally the Tallis
Scholars round off the two volumes
with three pieces by their namesake
and seven by Robert White. If you
are wondering why there is so little
Tallis on these two volumes, Gimell
have already released two excellent
earlier 2-CD sets of The Tallis
Scholars singing the music of William
Byrd (CDGIM208) and his mentor Thomas
Tallis (CDGIM203). There’s Taverner,
Byrd, Tallis and William Munday,
too, on The Tallis Scholars Live
in Oxford (CDGIM998), another
first-class recording which I intend
to review in my November 2008 Download
Roundup. Go for one or both of these
joint gold-medallists among Tudor
composers first, if you don’t already
have recordings of their music.
The two new sets offer the very
worthy silvers and bronzes.
Robert White, the
youngest of the composers on these
two sets, is perhaps the most neglected
of all those represented here. As
far as I am aware, only one CD completely
devoted to his music exists (Henry’s
Eight on Meridian CDE84313), though
individual works are included in
anthologies, for example on Treasures
of Tudor England (Coro COR16056)
where The Sixteen sing two works
included on the Tallis Scholars’
selection, the 5-part Lamentations
and Christe qui lux es IV,
together with music by Parsons and
Tye – see review.
Unusually, the Scholars offer slightly
brisker performances of both works,
but once again I could happily live
with either.
I recommended the
Coro CD alongside the recent Naxos
recording of the music of Robert
Parsons and see no reason to recant
that recommendation: in an ideal
world, I’d want both, but if you
can afford only one, you’ll have
to let the coupling decide.
If, as I hope,
ASV decide to reissue their recording
Tears and Lamentations, containing
White’s 6-part Lamentations and
Libera me (last seen on CDQS6151
at budget price), that, too, is
very valuable.
Everything about
these new Gimell reissues is high
quality – performances, recordings,
notes and presentation. The multi-lingual
notes are excellent, if rather brief
– to have amplified them would have
made the booklets too fat; they’re
already hard to get back in the
case. The Holbein illustrations
on the covers, labels and inserts
set the seal on the enterprise.
I’m not going to
claim that The Tallis Scholars offer
the only show in the house for Tudor
music – you will see from this review
and from my article Give Early
Music a Chance that the competition
from The Sixteen, in the music of
the Eton Choirbook and other Tudor
music, is intense and there are
other individual recordings which
I shall mention briefly at the end
of this review – but anyone who
buys Gimell’s four 2-CD sets will
have acquired a very sound base
on which to build a library of this
wonderful music.
If you buy one
or all of these Gimell recordings
and/or their Coro rivals and are
still looking for more early Tudor
music, Alto have just reissued a
most enjoyable 77-minute super-bargain
selection from two recordings which
the Hilliard Ensemble made for Saga
over 30 years ago but still sounding
fresh: secular and religious music
from the reigns of Henry VII and
Henry VIII by Cornysh, Fayrfax,
Sheryngham, Henry VIII, Barbireau
and that prolific composer Anon
(ALC1015: Music for Tudor Kings
– see Michael Greenhalgh’s review).
The two original recordings surfaced
briefly in Saga’s intermittent availability
on CD; together with their companion
recordings from the Elizabethan
and Jacobean periods. They aren’t
quite in the same league as The
Tallis Scholars and The Sixteen
but I have played and enjoyed hearing
them regularly. Perhaps Alto will
now oblige with the other recordings
from this source.
You’ll find yet
more Tudor music recommendations
in my reviews of the Christ Church
recordings of Taverner’s Music
for Our Lady (NI5360 – see review),
Byrd’s Masses (Nimbus NI5302, 5287
and5237 – see review)
of Byrd’s Second Service and Consort
Anthems (Harmonia Mundi HMU90 7440
– see MG’s review)
and of a wonderful bargain recording
of Byrd’s Eastertide Latin music,
Music for a Hidden Chapel
(Harmonia Mundi HCX395 5182 – see
review).
Brian Wilson
The Tallis Scholars/Peter Phillips 
