Muhly: No Resting Place

"The Tallis Scholars and Peter Phillips launch a new partnership with Linn with something a little different: an album of large-scale choral works by Nico Muhly - almost all composed for the group themselves. Apart from their Arvo Pärt collection 'Tintinnabuli' (Gimell, 3/15), this marks the first time Phillips and his ensemble have left their home turf of Renaissance polyphony on recording: a vote of confidence in Muhly's music that's abundantly justified by the results.

It's a serious - and seriously impressive - catalogue. There's no doubt that former chorister Muhly not only understands his forces but is excited and energised by their expressive potential, which he tests and teases to wonderfully contrasting effects. There's something almost Spem-like about the pulsing waves of sonic light emanating from A Glorious Creature. Ten voices give Muhly space to expand and contract, jumping off from Thomas Traherne's ecstatic vision of the sun in a work that alternates densely polyphonic episodes - voices fanning out in echoing concentric circles - with chorale-like moments of unity. There's similar radiance in the tiny Prosperitie - a birthday 'toast' for Phillips, set for the same forces, and shot through with an irrepressible little dance, syncopating insistently at its heart." Gramophone Editor's Choice