Palestrina: Vol. 3

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PALESTRINA
Palestrina: Vol. 3
The Sixteen, Harry Christophers

[ Coro / CD ]

Release Date: Monday 28 January 2013

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A towering figure in Renaissance polyphony, Palestrina is arguably one of the greatest composers of Liturgical music of all time. Harry Christophers and The Sixteen continue their exploration of his work with a disc of music for the Easter period.

Many of the works on this new recording celebrate the joyful part of Easter - the Resurrection - and the central mass on this disc is the wonderfully inspired Missa Regina caeli. The Mass is based on the well-known, immediately recognisable, plainchant Antiphon Regina caeli and the recording also includes the 8-voice motet of the same name.

As with volumes 1 and 2 this disc also includes three of Palestrina's settings of the Song of Songs alongside three offertories for the Easter period and the hymn Ad caenam agni providi.

This disc would not be complete, however, without the exquisite 8-voice Stabat Mater - possibly Palestrina's most famous piece in current times and a work that emphasises the other side of the Easter story - the agony and pain of the Crucifixion.

GRAMOPHONE AWARD FINALIST 2013: Early Music

"[the Missa Regina Caeli is] given a polished, carefully paced and highly sensitive reading here. The singers invest as much emotional intensity in one of the two double-choir polyphonic settings of the antiphon as they do in the rest of the set."
(Sunday Times)

"The opening sequence, Stabat Mater, shows just what is admirable about this choir and the direction it receives...every ounce of implied drama, of unsettled feeling, and of deep reflection is brought to bear on a performance of superbly crafted form, nuanced dynamics, overlapping phrasing and effortless tuning...as The Sixteen get into this series they are warming to their task."
(BBC Music)

"in this style of interpreting Palestrina, The Sixteen are sensitive and remarkably assured….The Sixteen's Palestrina cycle may just be a classic in the making."
(Gramophone)

Tracks:

Stabat mater
Regina coeli
Ad coenam Agni providi
Missa Regina caeli
Confitebor tibi Domine
Terra tremuit
Improperium exspectavit cor meum
Vineam meam non custodivi
Si ignoras te, o pulchra
Pulchrae sunt genae tuae