Palestrina’s motets do not enjoy the sort of coverage garnered by his Masses. They often appear alongside a Mass, but rarely are they allowed to stand on their own, as here. For Palestrina enthusiasts, that is reason enough to investigate this disc, even though a few of these motets have been recorded before (the Stabat mater and the elegant Dum complerentur, for example, by the Taverner Consort in their memorable “Music for the Sistine Chapel”, reissued on Virgin Veritas). But there are other attractions, not least the very distinctive sound of the Choir of New College, Oxford. I have written before (in connection with previous instalments of this series) of these boys’ full and reedy tone: on this recording they also sound slightly older than one is used to. This greater experience would account for their admirable sureness in the matter of phrasing (an added and welcome bonus in recordings of this kind). The altogether more robust timbre in evidence here is most apposite, reflecting a move away from the angelicism of performances of Palestrina’s music (hinted at in Noel O’Regan’s notes, and embodied in several recent recordings). The difference in sound is welcome enough in itself, but here it serves a new perception of the music.
The recordings took place in the chapel of New College, and although the resulting sound image lacks the special magic of the English and French volumes of Collins’s series (7/96 and 10/97, recorded in the French abbey of Valloires), the slightly drier acoustic underlines the aesthetic preference for precision of expression as opposed to an impressionistic wash of sound. If the voices’ staggered breathing is occasionally more audible (and the odd insecurity of attack exposed), the gain in distinctiveness is ample compensation.'