ALLEGRI. Miserere. Tallis Scholars

--Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli-
Written at least a generation prior to Allegri's Miserere, Palestrina's Mass for Pope Marcellus II is likewise a composition in search of the absolute and absolving God. Reacting to an overly ornate liturgy of the Roman Catholic church in the face of popular and growing Reformation types, Palestrina became a great champion for music that preserved both the grandeur of the liturgy as well as the accessibility of the message and language for the people. The lower vocals make the Mass a part of the people, rather than existing on high, inaccessible.

--William Mundy's Vox Patris caelestis-
Mundy's work is roughly contemporary with that of Palestrina (mid to late 1500s). The Vox Patris caelestis (the voice of the heavenly Father) is a decidedly Catholic English composition, which places it during the reign of Mary. Mundy was in many ways opposite from Palestrina - clarity of words and simplicity of music were secondary concerns, if concerns at all.

All of these pieces are glorious polyphonic compositions of extraordinary power and grace. Taken as a set, they make a wonderful snapshot of Roman Catholic/high Anglican sensibility from the time of religious upheaval due to the Reformation.

--The Tallis Scholars-
The Tallis Scholars 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, the Miserere by Allegri is expected and delivered with near-flawless grace. Directed by Peter Phillips, the group consists of a small number of male and female singers who have trained themselves well to their task.

This recording deserves more than five stars; it deserves a place on the shelf of anyone who loves choral music, liturgical music or Gregorian chant, classical music generally, or religious music. When listening, fair warning: prepare to be moved.

William Mundy's "Vox Patris Caelestis" (The Voice of the heavenly Father) is a celebration of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary,and borrows heavily from the Song of Solomon.Perhaps at first you might think it doesn't quite have the appeal of the other two items on this disc,but it does repay repeated listening,and with the barely reined in passion of it's final verse provides a most satisfying sonic bridge between the more subdued beauties of the other masterworks.

The well considered interval of silence after the impressive "Amen" of "Vox Patris..." only serves to heighten the eager anticipation you should rightly feel before the commencement of Palestrina's outstandingly beautiful "Missa Papae Marcelli".I won't burden you now with an Academic dissertation (I'm ill-qualified to do so anyway) on it's genesis and provenance.Instead I'll just baldly (and boldly) state that if you are entirely new to polyphonic settings of the Mass,then this is the loveliest launchpad possible for you to soar Heavenwards on a fantastic voyage of discovery.From it's oh,so sublime "Kyrie",to the absolute raptures of it's "Sanctus" and two part "Agnus Dei",it reminds me of nothing so much as a glorious musical galleon sailing across a barely ruffled ocean towards a blissful horizon of peace via the concluding "dona nobis pacem".Quite,quite astonishing that such paradisiacal sounds can be produced by such a small group of men and women -- and not an instument (apart from their vocal cords) to be seen !

So,waste not a second more of your life,if you have any regard at all for your harmonic health,in snapping up this wonderful CD.Your personal countdown has started;so step aboard,join me,and we'll ply the seraphic seas of polyphony together.

But no matter; the rest of the CD is more than worth its price. The tempi in the Palestrina Mass are often on the slow side, which took me a while to get used to--moments like "et resurexit" didn't come accross as exultantly as one might expect--but after several listenings I came to realize that as an overall approach it works perfectly, and every strand of polyphony is clearly audible. The total effect is one of radiant spiritual calm and beauty. Listening to Palestrina requires putting aside the expectations acquired from four centuries of later music and becoming receptive to the extraordinarily subtle, masterly way he responds to the text. It is truly a masterpiece of the sixteenth century, and here beautifully performed.

For me, though, the high point of the recording was the almost totally unknown Vox Patris Caelestis. The text is fascinating in itself: it reinterprets the Song of Solomon as the words spoken by God to the Virgin Mary, and the result is a description of the loving union between divine and human that seems to lie at the center of the most mystical part of every religion. Mundy responds to this mysticism appropriately. The piece begins with just a countertenor and mean, in unison; the countertenor falls a major third to the word "Patris," creating what is to be a harmonic motif of the work. The two voices then continue in a loosely imitative texture, with a profound, otherworldy expression. This otherworldy atmosphere is sustained for all twenty minutes of the work, through verses for various combinations of voices, and with countless striking moments of tone-painting: at the very beginning when a bass joins the two high voices as God speaks; in a verse for tenor, two countertenors, and treble in which the voices soar upward on the word "ascendere"; and in a section for full six-part choir when sections of voices exchange cries of "Veni," to point out a few almost at random. A climax is reached before the last full choir section in the hushed intensity of a verse for two trebles, two means, and two basses. The Amen, with its soaring treble melissmas, is the most glorious I have heard. The piece is more mystical, more dramatically constructed, and more melodically varied than a comparable piece like Tallis' Gaude gloriosa. I only wonder why Mundy didn't write anything else that is known today.