The Cardinall's Musick & Andrew Carwood - Tallis: Lamentations And Other Sacred Music (2024) [Hi-Res]

Enthusiasts of Renaissance choral polyphony may debate various aspects of this release and others in the Thomas Tallis series by The Cardinall's Musick and director Andrew Carwood. The two-voice-per-part choir configuration is not to everyone's taste, with some preferring a single-voice madrigal-like texture and others a sound rooted in the long English choral tradition. The mix of pieces on this volume, which veers from English-language anthems to Anglican service music to somber Latin pieces (mostly written, nevertheless, for the Protestant Elizabeth I); some might rather have music more closely linked to its original setting and function. The singers' judicious use of vibrato might be too much for some, too little for others. About the basic musicality of the program's central music, however, there ought to be very little dispute: the two sets of Lamentations of Jeremiah at the beginning are extraordinarily powerful. The ornate settings of the Hebrew initial letters ("Aleph," Beth") and the broader passages toward the end of each Lamentation are handled with a rare combination of emotion and iron control by the singers, and the experience of hearing these dark, low-register works is gripping. By the time they're over with, the more compact pieces on the remainder of the program will come as a kind of relief. Superbly resonant, acoustically appropriate sound from Fitzalan Chapel at Arundel Castle adds to the power of the music. Highly recommended. -- James Manheim