Numerous albums of sacred choral music are centered on the theme of Mary, but this one by director Paul McCreesh and his Gabrieli Consort (about 15 singers, mixed-gender, adult) stands out from the crowd. There is the by-now exceptional sensitivity of the singers, who catch the structural significance of small turns of melody even in the outwardly featureless surfaces of English early Renaissance polyphony. There is the discrimination in selecting contemporary repertoire: the program is framed by two exceptionally fine ...
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Numerous albums of sacred choral music are centered on the theme of Mary, but this one by director Paul McCreesh and his Gabrieli Consort (about 15 singers, mixed-gender, adult) stands out from the crowd. There is the by-now exceptional sensitivity of the singers, who catch the structural significance of small turns of melody even in the outwardly featureless surfaces of English early Renaissance polyphony. There is the discrimination in selecting contemporary repertoire: the program is framed by two exceptionally fine pieces on the Rose theme; one of them, Matthew Martin's A Rose Magnificat, is newly composed. And that leads one to the real attraction of this release: McCreesh has revivified a programming idea that is almost a cliché in both England and America. Choirs present Renaissance polyphony, and then add in obligatory a cappella works from contemporary English choral composers. What McCreesh does is make this seem new, and logical, and inevitable. At the center of the program are two sizable...
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