Most helpful customer reviews
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent music, secure performances, April 17 2002
I would give this five stars, but I think I would save that for something extraordinary, and this isn't. While it wouldn't be the first disc I would add to my collection, this is fine and underrated music. Tomkins is a fine composer, with a very unique style and sometimes great works. Christopher Robinson, now retiring from St. John's College, Cambridge, is a superb musician. Ensemble and phrasing are evident, and musicality bursts out at every moment. The boys have a different sound from his Cambridge boys, more direct and traditional English, and pleasing and effective in this music throughout. The men aren't perhaps as strong as some other top choirs, but the countertenor soloist is marvelous.If I could say Tomkins reminded me of one composer, it would probably be Tomas Luis de Victoria. The same romanticism and word painting is there in Tomkins music that is so loved in that of the Spanish composer, though Tomkins' music includes many harmonic elements characteristic of the music of Tallis, such as false relations to aid expression. All in all, this is a fine disc, with some delicious music, ideal for the classical music lover already well versed in the rightly better known music of Tallis, Byrd, Palestrina, Victoria and Josquin des Pres.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent music, secure performances, April 17 2002
I would give this five stars, but I think I would save that for something extraordinary, and this isn't. While it wouldn't be the first disc I would add to my collection, this is fine and underrated music. Tomkins is a fine composer, with a very unique style and sometimes great works. Christopher Robinson, now retiring from St. John's College, Cambridge, is a superb musician. Ensemble and phrasing are evident, and musicality bursts out at every moment. The boys have a different sound from his Cambridge boys, more direct and traditional English, and pleasing and effective in this music throughout. The men aren't perhaps as strong as some other top choirs, but the countertenor soloist is marvelous.If I could say Tomkins reminded me of one composer, it would probably be Tomas Luis de Victoria. The same romanticism and word painting is there in Tomkins music that is so loved in that of the Spanish composer, though Tomkins' music includes many harmonic elements characteristic of the music of Tallis, such as false relations to aid expression. All in all, this is a fine disc, with some delicious music, ideal for the classical music lover already well versed in the rightly better known music of Tallis, Byrd, Palestrina, Victoria and Josquin des Pres.
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