Rating: 5/5
Review:
Still and absolute gem
I bought the LP of this wonderful recording in the early 80s after hearing a snippet on the radio and it absolutely transfixed me with its sheer beauty. It still does. There have been dozens of recordings of Allegri's Miserere since then, many of them very fine, but none has surpassed this groundbreaking performance, in my view. Recorded in the perfect acoustic of Merton College Chapel, Oxford and beautifully sung with an ideal separation and balance of the choirs, it has a limpid, spiritual loveliness with an undertow of passion which makes the whole thing glow from start to finish.
The disc also features Mundy's colossal motet Vox Patris caelestis and another landmark recording, this time of Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli. The Tallis Scholars' full-voiced, vibrato-free and perfectly balanced performance really makes this wonderful music blaze with power and tenderness as appropriate - for example, the two colossal "Amens" which conclude the Gloria and the Credo are simply stunning. The fabulous beauty of Palestrina's music shines out of this recording, and the disc would be worth buying for this mass alone.
This recording has given me huge pleasure for getting on for 30 years and continues to do so. Now it is at budget price it is an absolute snip, and is recommend very warmly indeed.
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