The Cardinall’s Musick have gone from strength to strength in recent recordings. Successive releases have brought increased solidity and breadth, and they have found a recording venue (the Fitzalan chapel of Arundel Castle) in which they clearly thrive. The sacred music of William Cornysh is perhaps more demanding technically than that of either Ludford or Fayrfax, but in this new recording they meet the challenge handsomely. The inevitable comparison must be with The Tallis Scholars’ anthology, now nearly ten years old, which ranks as one of their finest achievements. The Cardinall’s Musick have the deeper sound, enhanced by a marginally warmer acoustic, and their approach to phrasing and tempo is marginally more relaxed than The Tallis Scholars (who tend to be more incisive), though the result is equally secure. In the matter of individual pieces one may prefer now the one interpretation, now the other. The Cardinalls’ account of the Salve regina is the more dramatic of the two (try the initial entry of the tutti, and the crescendo build-up to the final “Amen”), and in Gaude virgo their choice of a tenor on the top line (rather than a countertenor) seems the more effective of the two. On the other hand I’d give The Tallis Scholars the edge in the Magnificat on account of their astonishing agility – the fact that two sopranos can negotiate the breakneck, stratospheric top line simultaneously has to be heard to be believed.
What then of the respective programmes? Well, enthusiasts of this period will welcome the addition to the catalogue of the Magnificats by Turges and Prentes. Secular pieces such as Ah Robin and Woefully arrayed (included by The Tallis Scholars) are not to be missed; as it happens, David Skinner questions the widely held assumption that the sacred and secular output are by the same composer, hence the absence of any secular music on The Cardinalls’ programme (there may have been two composers of that name, possibly father and son).
On balance, my personal preference might go to The Tallis Scholars, though no doubt The Cardinalls have the angels on their side.'