The title Supersize Polyphony here may seem an unwarranted intrusion of advertising-speak into the rarefied realm of Renaissance choral music, but it's apt enough. The 40-part motet Spem in alium by Thomas Tallis has always been something of a mystery among Renaissance compositions, seemingly unlike anything else in the repertory of the period. It became slightly less of a mystery when choirs learned of its likely derivation from a motet and mass by composer Alessandro Striggio, which expands to an even more mind-boggling ...
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The title Supersize Polyphony here may seem an unwarranted intrusion of advertising-speak into the rarefied realm of Renaissance choral music, but it's apt enough. The 40-part motet Spem in alium by Thomas Tallis has always been something of a mystery among Renaissance compositions, seemingly unlike anything else in the repertory of the period. It became slightly less of a mystery when choirs learned of its likely derivation from a motet and mass by composer Alessandro Striggio, which expands to an even more mind-boggling 60 voices in the Agnus Dei of the mass. The two works have been combined on recordings several times, but there are several new wrinkles here. One is the inclusion of chants by Hildegard of Bingen, completely ahistorical as a performance practice, but quite effective as a total contrast with the choral work. The second is the remarkable engineering from Signum. The performances by the blended ensemble of the Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, under Geoffrey Weber, and...
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Add this copy of Supersize Polyphony: Striggio: Mass in 40 & 60 Parts to cart. $32.71, new condition, Sold by Revaluation Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Exeter, DEVON, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2019 by Signum Classics.
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