A Year at King’s -
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge / Cleobury
EMI 6 09004 02 Buy now
Allegri Miserere mei Barber Agnus Dei Eccard When to the temple Mary went Guerrero Canite tuba Holst Nunc dimittis Lassus Videntes stellam Palestrina Hodie Christus natus est Pärt Magnificat Antiphons – O Immanuel; O Weisheit P Philips Cantiones sacrae – Surgens Jesus Poulenc Quatre Motets pour le temps de Noël – Videntes stellam Stanford Three Motets, Op 38 – Coelos ascendit Tallis Spem in alium Tavener Away in a Manger Victoria Ascendens Christus in altum C Wood ’Tis the day of resurrection
Choir of King’s College, Cambridge / Stephen Cleobury with Peter Stevens org
EMI 609004-2
The year of the title is presumably liturgical rather than historical, and each of the musical works slots clearly enough into the church calendar until we come to the last: I wouldn’t quite know which of the 27 Sundays after Trinity best suits Tallis’s 40‑part motet.
The disc is a kind of historical record too in that I couldn’t help noting how times have changed. As far as I can recollect, only two of the works (Eccard’s When to the temple and Stanford’s Coelos ascendit hodie) figured in Boris Ord’s day. The choir never (never?) sang in German (as they do here in Pärt’s Magnificat Antiphons), Allegri’s Miserere was known by reputation only, and Spem in alium was for a special occasion only. That, together with the Allegri and Barber’s Agnus Dei, are now the “pops” of the ecclesiastical charts. I should think it unlikely that John Tavener’s dour and awkward Away in a manger will join them, though Charles Wood’s masterly ’Tis the day of resurrection would surely deserve to.
As for the performances, they are of course highly proficient, taking easily in their stride the most elaborate polyphony and answering all demands. The tone is a little harder these days and I experienced few moments of sudden delight in the sheer beauty of sound. The great motet by Tallis is heard in a new way, moving ahead with resolution and assurance. Yet I remember, and really rather prefer, that first recording of all, in which Michael Tippett led his singers, like a censer swinging gently at the head of a serene procession into a world of spiritual ecstasy. John Steane
