From: k22164@kyyppari.hkkk.fi (Mikko Reinikainen)
Subject: Re: A-Cappella groups?
Date: 23 Jan 93 15:21:03 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: Helsinki School of Economics, Finland

In <GLEASON.93Jan21085908@scf16.scf.loral.com> gleason@scf16.scf.loral.com (Robert Gleason) writes:

>I am hoping that some of you may be able to help me. I am very much a 
>lover of a cappella music, namely medieval and madrigal music. However
>my collection is lacking.  I have heard of groups like the Tallis Scholars
>and the the Kings Singers and a few others.

You have heard some of the best of them! As my friend Peter H.
DeLafosse put it, Tallis Scholars haven't done a bad recording:
every recording by them is recommendable. Especially their Palestrina
CD's have gained much glory.

KIng's Singers are my all time favpurites, it's just pitty that most
of their present catalogue isn't very classical a cappella singing,
but rather more recent music. Still, CDs like "All At Once Well Met:
English Madrigals", the two Lassus discs, "A Madrigal History Tour"
and "La Dolce Vita" are VERY enjoyable.

The Sixteen is a very impressive choir, too. E.g. their recording of
Byrd's masses is very good.

The Taverner Consort has recorded much, but perhaps its vocal quality
isn't as brilliant as TS's or The Sixteen's, although it is still
quite good. Their CD "Music Of The Sistine Chappel" is a good start
for a freashman, as it includes some of the best known wotks of
Italian polyphony, namely Allegri's Miserere (the version in the disc
is slightly different from the most often heard), Palestrina's
"Jubilate Deo" and "Stabat Mater". Other good recording by TC are
Taverner's "Missa Gloria Tibi Trinitas" and "Masterworks from the
late-medieval England and Scotland".

There are several good performances of a wide variety of polyphonic
works availabvle for you today, thanks to the early music fashion that
has been going for some 5 years now (at least). E.g. The Choir of
King's College, Christ Church Cathdral Choir and Westminster cathedral
Choir are good names.

>Also, I am curious about the Hilliard Ensemble. I just purchased Miserie
>(sp?) and was not impressed (I found it simple and repetitive in too much
>but not all, of what I have listened to).  Do other works by them involve
>more complex polyphony? That is what I'm looking for.

The Hilliard Ensemble has done very much very good :-)
The disc you have been disspointed with is surely "Miserere" by Arvo
Pa"rt, an Estonian modern composer, whom I love but many dislike...
His style is indeed different from the polyphony you are loooking for,
so maybe you should forget him for the time being - just in case you
might want to hear more of him, look for "Passio Secundum Ioannem" or
"Arbos", both CDs with the HE.

The prolbem with the HE is their original sound; someone called it
"throaty" i.e. the colour of their sound is dark and "pressed". If
you can stand that (and the sometimes emotionally bald performances)
the Ensemble can give you a lot. Most of their recordings are decently
by one composer (like Desprez: Motets et Chansons or de Machaut: Messe
de Notre Dame etc.) but there are some anthologies the best of which
is "Sacred And Secular Music From Six Centuries".

Oh, I forgot to mention the labels. Tallis Scholars is in Gimell,
King's Singers in EMI (alhough they are now in BMG), The Sixteen is in
(at least) Virgin Classics, Taverner Concort in EMI, The Hillard
Ensemble is in many: EMI, Hyperion, Harmonia Mundi.
I am sure you will easily find the rest!


	Mikko Reinikainen
	Finland
--
Mikko Reinikainen
k22164@kyyppari.hkkk.fi
Helsinki School Of Economics and Business Administration
Helsinki University/Faculty Of Law