Stile Antico - The Phoenix Rising (2013) [Official Digital Download 24/88]

Amongst the many endeavours funded by the Carnegie Trust (marking its centenary in 2013) was the publication and editing of 'Tudor Church Music' in ten large folio volumes of music, with 50 performing pieces published individually. This had a considerable impact on the revival of this important music: for the first time a significant body of the greatest Tudor compositions became accessible to scholars, performers and listeners having languished in cathedrals, museums and colleges. It also inspired a further generation of English composers after its resurrection including Howells, Britten and Vaughan Williams.

Stile Antico presents a varied selection of the finest pieces from TCM in a programme centred around William Byrd’s masterful five-part mass.

Stile Antico is an elite ensemble of young British singers, working without a conductor, each contributing artistically to the musical result. They are now established as the crack ensemble to beat, having enjoyed huge success, via their SACD recordings for harmonia mundi USA. Awards include the 2009 Gramophone Award for Early Music [Song of Songs] which also reached the top of the US Classical Chart. Their performances have repeatedly been praised for their vitality, commitment and imaginative response to text.

“such is the assurance, unanimity, flow and architectural grasp of their performances that one would never know they are not under the guiding hand of a conductor. Clearly this is all the result of scrupulous preparation…The singing itself is well-nigh flawless and the sound this group makes is a constant source of pleasure.” (International Record Review)

“The expertise of the Stile Antico group in this repertory is not in doubt and, as always, these singers give us splendid performances. Gibbon's O Clap Your Hand, for example, has a sure-footed exuberance…the overall effect is extremely professional and pleasing.” (BBC Music Magazine)

“That the performances on this disc are given with the customary Stile Antico level of excellence goes without saying; what pleases most is the commitment and passion with which the ensemble sings [these] works… reminding us of the striking beauty of this repertoire.” (Early Music Today)

“Its collective (conductorless) approach pays particular dividends in this repertoire where the music depends on an instinctive reaction from the individual singers…Stile Antico presents it with a glorious and compelling freshness…we have a release which in its own way is quite as wonderful as the original Carnegie-funded editions.” (International Record Review)

“There's a forthright quality to the voices of Stile Antico, and especially its sopranos, that suits this English repertoire, balancing beauty with an intensity that reminds us that this is the music of protest and oppression as well as faith.” (Gramophone Magazine)

Tracklist:
01. Ave verum corpus
02. Salvator mundi
03. Kyrie eleison
04. Gloria in excelsis Deo
05. Nolo mortem peccatoris
06. O clap your hands together
07. Credo
08. Portio mea
09. Christe qui lux es et dies [IV]
10. Almighty and everlasting God
11. Sanctus & Benedictus
12. In ieiunio et fletu
13. Agnus Dei
14. O splendor gloriae