Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Thomas Tallis's monumental "Spem In Alium" is one of the greatest glories of Western polyphony and its pre-echoes and aftershocks reverberate through the other nine pieces on this disc. Three works are contemporary: Gabriel Jackson (born 1952) gives us the title track "Sanctum Est Verum Lumen", Tarik O'Regan (born 1978) has "I Sleep, But My Heart Waketh", and Bo Holten (born 1948) offers "In Nomine". Going back in time we meet Robert Wylkynson (c 1450-c 1515), Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599), Josquin des Prez (c 1450-1521), Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611), Felice Anerio (c 1560-1614) with a 12 part "Stabat Mater" previously ascribed to Palestrina, Johannes Ockeghem (c 1410-1497), and, of course, Tallis himself (1505-1585). The singing, unaccompanied throughout, is superlative and producer Paul Baxter and engineer Adam Binks have risen to the challenge of getting the complex music recorded and mixed as clearly as we could hope. The one drawback of this thematic approach is that 70 minutes of multifaceted and polychoral jewels become almost overwhelming. My solution is to listen to Tallis or Jackson to set the scene and then pick one or two others at a time to add to the picture. Each piece on this CD deserves our full attention and the massed voices of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain bring each composition to life. Dazzling.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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