This reissue by the Netherlands-based budget label Brilliant reproduces a recording originally issued on the Signum label by the London vocal group Chapelle du Roi. It's a fine choice for reissue, running counter to the usual English preference for squeaky-clean renderings of Thomas Tallis. The sound of Chapelle du Roi under conductor Alistair Dixon is rich and a bit tough, with individual voices sometimes cutting through the surface maintained by the small group of eight to 12 that performs all the pieces except for the ...
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This reissue by the Netherlands-based budget label Brilliant reproduces a recording originally issued on the Signum label by the London vocal group Chapelle du Roi. It's a fine choice for reissue, running counter to the usual English preference for squeaky-clean renderings of Thomas Tallis. The sound of Chapelle du Roi under conductor Alistair Dixon is rich and a bit tough, with individual voices sometimes cutting through the surface maintained by the small group of eight to 12 that performs all the pieces except for the giant 40-voice motet Spem in alium. That work is performed with one voice per part. It takes a good deal of control to keep that work on track in a minimal setting, but the tension of the music ebbs and flows palpably in Dixon's readings, with the cross relations and other dissonances receiving special emphasis and in general creating a different picture of Tallis than one may be used to from recordings by the cathedral choirs or the likes of the Tallis Scholars. In accordance with...
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