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Reviewer:
Alexandra Coghlan
In today’s culture of anniversary-driven programming, is the absence of a definitive birthdate to mark and memorialise really enough to blight a composer’s chances? Or is it an even more pragmatic question of the lack of editions of his work that existed until fairly recently? Or could it, perhaps, be that the same angular, nonconformist polyphony that kept the composer from an Oxford doctorate during his lifetime is still disquieting for listeners more comfortable with the consonance of Tallis? If it’s the latter, then this new release by Martin Baker and the Westminster Cathedral Choir should go some way towards correcting the problem. While the smaller forces of Contrapunctus bring a wonderfully airy purity and flexibility to their rendition (the best, for my money, of extant Media vita recordings that also include The Tallis Scholars and Stile Antico), they ultimately offer something intimate. Westminster, by contrast, match the monumentality of the work’s own structure in a spacious, architectural performance whose physical heft is balanced by a blend so smudgy-soft that the impression is of hundreds of voices all sharing in this musical prayer. The lower key (a full fourth lower than The Tallis Scholars) and the more diffuse tone of boy trebles also help to cradle this emotive text in sooty vocal warmth – much more suited to this meditation on death than halogen brilliance. Westminster pair Media vita with two other six-voice works by Sheppard: the Marian motet Gaude, gaude, gaude Maria and the Missa Cantate. In the generous acoustic of All Hallows, Gospel Oak, the contrapuntal intricacies of both emerge clearly, never lost in Sheppard’s carefully spaced vocal textures. It’s quite possible that 2017 marks Sheppard’s 500th anniversary year. It’s hard to think of a better birthday present than this outstanding recording of three of his finest works. |
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