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| © Clive Barda |
The Tallis Scholars, directed by Peter Phillips, have followed up their acclaimed 2013 release of music by John Taverner (c1490-1545) with a
recording of his massive Missa Corona Spinea. Taverner was a huge influence on English
composers who followed, including Tallis and Byrd, yet remarkably little is
known about his life, and details about his compositions and musical
appointments really only account for less than ten years of his life from 1524
to about 1530. Yet eight masses and a
number of motets and antiphons remain, and the importance of this composer in
the development of English music cannot be overstated. His command of texture
and form, combined with the ability to create a sense of serenity and clarity
in his melodic lines is amply demonstrated in the Missa Corona Spinea. Unlike
in his other great work Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas, where the virtuosity
required across the six parts is more or less equal, in the Missa Corona
Spinea, it is the trebles (the top soprano line) who are the stars. Right from
the opening bars they are soaring on top B flats, and stay up there pretty much
throughout. Not only that, but there are two significant ‘gimell’ sections –
this is where one part splits into two separate lines. So here, the two trebles
(Janet Coxwell and Amy Haworth on amazing form) have
incredibly intricate solo lines which weave in and out of each other,
underpinned by a bass line. For the second gimell, Taverner complicates matters
even more by splitting the mean voice (the next voice down) too, making this a
double gimell. The resulting virtuosic
intricacy is amazing, and as ever, The Tallis Scholars relish this challenge,
with the trebles in particular producing effortless, crystal clear lines above
the rich sonorities of the lower voices.
Taverner further accentuates the soaring top line by scoring two bass
parts at the bottom, adding to the richness of the fuller choral sections. It is not known exactly what occasion
Taverner composed this amazing work for, but there is speculation that none
other than Cardinal Wolsey may have commissioned it, with Henry VIII possibly
present at the first performance. The
scale of this single work, at nearly 48 minutes long, is immense, but it rewards
concentrated listening. You can’t help being transported by those ringing top
notes and the intensity of Taverner’s complex writing. The Tallis Scholars
complete the disc with Taverner’s two settings of the Easter responsary Dum transisset Sabbatum. The first of
these is better known, but it is great to hear them side-by-side. Despite using
the same tenor chant line, they demonstrate the composer’s skill at producing
strikingly different settings within the same construct. The text describes the
women arriving at Jesus’ tomb on Easter Sunday morning, and Taverner creates a
sense of awe and wonder in both settings. A worthy end to another top-notch
recording from The Tallis Scholars.
