When David Skinner founded his crack vocal ensemble in 2005 he named them after Petrus Alamire; one of those extraordinary figures of the 1500s who turned their hand to whatever might keep them afloat on the turbulent seas of political upheaval and courtly intrigue. An illuminator, scribe and composer-musician seeking safe harbour amongst the various northern-European courts he dabbled in a little espionage on behalf of Henry VIII. After nine critically acclaimed releases, Skinner’s group now pays tribute to their namesake with this complete performance of Alamire’s finest legacy, the exquisite choirbook he once presented to Henry and is now held in the British Library. A collection of 34 motets celebrating the glories of Flemish polyphony with masterworks by Josquin Desprez, Pierre de la Rue, Jean Mouton, Antoine de Févin and a smattering of fine works of unknown provenance, some of which here receive their first recording. The choir is superb with impeccable intonation and the ideal timbre for this repertoire, finding the right compromise between modern polish and period tang, maintaining clarity of line with just the right bite in the texture and avoiding the bland results of the overly-blended. Some may crave the raw excitement of Graindelavoix’s account…

The most recent release from British choral ensemble Voces8 is a catalogue of shimmering music centring on the theme of light. The eight-piece group is flawless, and their radiant timbre doesn’t let the disc’s title down one bit. Their shining tone and technique make for joyful, peaceful listening, and the acoustics – Dore Abbey and St Michael’s, Highgate – help polish the already stunning performance. The 15 tracks traverse centuries of music, from Renaissance masters such as Tallis to contemporary composers like Lauridsen and Ešenvalds. There’s even pop crossover in arrangements of Ben Folds and Massive Attack. It’s an album of unashamedly beautiful music intended for reflection and relaxation and on that level it works. But while thought has clearly gone into the curation, the result has missed the mark. The pop arrangements don’t come off that convincingly, and feel slightly sacrilegious when heard a track or two away from Allegri’s sublime Miserere (which does sound gorgeous). And Thomas Tallis with saxophone and a vocal arrangement of Elgar’s famous Nimrod from his Enigma Variations will probably irk the purists. Ultimately this disc’s appeal lies in its beauty of sound, and for this reason I’d gladly have it on while sipping…

★★★★☆ One of classical music’s dilemmas is the relatively small body of high-profile works that get recorded again and again. Thank goodness then for musicians like Josie Ryan and the Emerald City Viols. The repertoire on this CD for soprano and viol consort, is remarkably varied. It begins and ends with compositions by viol player and director Brooke Green, starting with settings of Dorothy Porter’s poetry, and passes through some surprising influences – Nick Cave is not the first name I expected to see referenced in the liner notes! Green utilises modern harmonies and rhythms, but not to the detriment of melody. There’s also a generous helping of more traditional repertoire from Gibbons, Morley, and Dowland, while sprinkled throughout are works by Elena Kats-Chernin and Ross Edwards. The Emerald City Viols give enthusiastic performances, especially excelling in the Renaissance pieces. Gibbons subtly melancholy settings are sung with great aplomb by Josie Ryan. Similarly, three Dowland songs (Flow my tears, In darkness let me dwell, and Can she excuse my wrongs) are performed in a… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

★★★★☆ Gold from the new world was not the only glittering commodity of Philip II’s Spain. Now at the height of its colonial power, the country also boasted spectacular music and art. Here Harry Christophers has harvested the choicest fruits of Francisco Guerrero and Alonso Lobo. These composers, master and disciple, were both in turn maestro di capilla of Seville Cathedral, then one of the grandest Christian structures in Europe. Amongst the highlights is Lobo’s monumental motet Versa est in luctum, written for the funeral rites of King Philip himself. The singers reveal the plangent glories, singing with a wonderful mixture of imposing calm and expertly focused dissonance. Another funeral setting, Libera me, a Kyrie and two Marian motets attest to Lobo’s polyphonic mastery. Guerrero, Lobo’s teacher and himself a student of Cristóbal de Morales, was an intrepid character, having made a Holy Land pilgrimage during which he was twice captured by pirates! He was later briefly in debtors’ prison having spent too much publishing his music and memoirs. A 12-voice Duo seraphim,… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

★★★★☆ Editor’s Choice: Vocal & Chroal, June 2015 So obsessed were the white anglo-saxon protestant citizens of late Victorian England with the “punishment of wickedness and vice, and the maintenance of true religion and virtue” (to use Thomas Cranmer’s phrase) that they were content even for a talented Roman Catholic like Edward Elgar to feed them stories that reinforced the prevailing ‘muscular Christianity’. St George and the dragon was an obvious subject, not least when Queen Victoria celebrated her diamond jubilee in 1897. For The Banner of Saint George Elgar was provided with poetry that was far from accomplished, but he used his considerable skill in orchestration to create evocative soundscapes, especially as he depicts the slaying of the dragon. On the other hand, there are times (as in the epilogue) when I can’t help wondering whether Elgar has his tongue firmly planted in his cheek. In any event, Sir Andrew Davis and his forces give a rousing and fully committed account of a work that was to become immensely popular… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

★★★★★ When I hear Dutch pianist Ronald Brautigam play Beethoven on period fortepianos I think that, quite honestly, performing the great man’s music on a modern grand piano is an aesthetic crime of some magnitude – right up there with colourised Laurel & Hardy films and microwaving chicken. Elsewhere in this issue, it’s true, I lavish praise on the fourth instalment of Jonathan Biss’s ongoing cycle of Beethoven Piano Sonatas, praise that is sincere and unquestionably deserved. But Brautigam’s attention to historical form is such that three separate fortepianos have been recalled from the subs’ benches in order to trace the evolution of the instrumental hardware with which Beethoven himself necessarily wrestled. Paul McNulty’s copy of an 1802 fortepiano serves Sonatas 1 through 18, its timbral delicacies and coarse-grained tuning temperament representing a complete game changer. Take, for example, the Moonlight, Beethoven’s most used and abused sonata, lacquered often with cod-Romantic rubato. In Brautigam’s hands we’re reconnected with its eerie oddities – when… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The first three volumes of his Beethoven cycle was released by Onyx, and now Jonathan Biss issues Volume Four via his own label.

★★★☆☆ Ferrucio Busoni (1866-1924) was the outstanding piano virtuoso of his time. Performance activity interfered with his composing, much to his annoyance, but he produced highly individual works. He also made transcriptions of music by Bach, mainly of organ works. Two such pieces are played here: the Prelude and Triple Fugue in E Flat (St. Anne), and a Fantasia after Bach (1909). The original works, all from Busoni’s later years as he suppressed most of his earlier music, are the exquisite Ravelian Nuit de Noël, the Prélude et étude en arpèges, Variations on a Prelude of Chopin, and Toccata: Prelude, Fantasia and Chaconne. The Toccata was his final composition, a fine example of his unique harmonic sense, as well as the tremendous technical difficulty of his piano music. His Chopin Variations of 1922 give Brahms’s Paganini Variations a run for their money. American pianist Jeni Slotchiver is a Busoni specialist. This is the third disc in her series; earlier issues contain the slightly better known Elegies and Sonatinas. Some unevenness in descending arpeggios aside (in the Etude), she undoubtedly has the necessary technique, and her booklet note attests to… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already…

★★★★☆ With the passing of Gustav Leonhardt, elder statesman of period keyboard performance, the mantle passes to Ton Koopman, a treasure of the early music scene for the last 30 years. His witty approach to a potentially sober repertoire has charmed and illuminated, with several tours of this country and a discography treasured by connoisseurs. His complete set of the elder Bach’s organ works is one of my desert island discs. As one of many cast-offs from the major labels we can thank Challenge Classics for continuing to record him and this latest release is a delight. Koopman’s musical personality is tailor-made for CPE Bach’s free-wheeling invention and whacky sense of fantasy. His experiments in period keyboard techniques has always given his playing an extra degree of air and space so CPE’s rhetorical stop-starts and flourishes have extra point and lift. The younger Bach didn’t write much organ music but the six sonatas are delightful works in his mature empfindsamkeit style. Koopman has recorded them on a magnificent restored organ once owned by Princess Amalia of Prussia. She owned a manuscript of these works, so it’s possible the… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already…

Percy Aldridge Grainger (1882-1961) was an ambiguous presence in Australian music, both as a man and a composer. A sensational concert pianist in his youth (though not one to take other composers’ score markings too seriously), he befriended Grieg and Delius, and achieved considerable success in America (eventually he took US citizenship). Post-World War II he became the forgotten figure described by Barry Humphries in his memoirs: shuffling around Melbourne, struggling to maintain a Grainger museum that housed his manuscripts, home-made “music machines” and a large collection of whips and sex toys. Grainger saw himself as the future of Australian music. Certainly, he wrote a great number of musical arrangements, or ‘rambles’ as he called them (such an English word!). Most of the 61 tracks on these discs are arrangements of British folksongs, like Shepherd’s Hey, My Robin is to the Greenwood Gone, and famously English Country Gardens. They recall a world of Empire Day, folk dancing, and bland radio programmes for schools that was in its death throes when I was a kid. Imaginatively written for the piano though Grainger’s arrangements are, and as lovingly performed as they are here by Australian pianist Leslie Howard, those associations render them……

★★★★☆ Capella de la Torre is dedicated to the performance of an older brand of music. Their instruments are similarly old, from shawms, slide trumpets and sackbut to lute, cow horn and percussion. With an eye to authentic historical readings, their playing evokes distant times and places, and frequently explores the music of the Middle Ages by focussing on people, locations and events. In their recent release, the group have reconstructed through music the 15th ecumenical council. Imagine tens of thousands of dignitaries, clerics, noblemen and women of various nations gathered together at Constance for this important ecclesiastical meeting. Written accounts of the time describe great parades through the streets, accompanied by music of the various regions raining down from roof and castle-tops. The various tracks on the disc feature music for drums, pipes, strings and trumpets, in the music of noted medieval composers like Guillaume Dufay, Philippe de Vitry and Gilles Binchois. Capella de la Torre’s musical reconstruction is a great success. With their keen eye for historical accuracy, the group have pieced together a programme of music that conjures the spirit of this momentous occasion. Admittedly,… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already…

Part documentary, part concert film, the warmth and ease between composer and quartet is palpable.