Peter Phillips, The Choir Of Winchester Cathedral, The Parley Of Instruments - Motets By Peter Philips (Hyperion)
STYLE: Choral RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 30237- LABEL: Hyperion CDA66643 FORMAT: CD Album ITEMS: 1
Reviewed by Dave Massey
Peter Phillips is a composer from the renaissance period who has only recently begun to be given the credit due to him as a composer - certainly in this country. Suffering from the stigma of being a Catholic at the wrong time, in the wrong place, he left his native England and honed his musical craft in Italy before finally settling down in Brussels... who said that the only good things to come from thence are straight cucumbers and Hercules Poirot? Although his style was un-adventurous even in his own day, the quality of Phillips' composition jumps out from the first listen, in this case, "Ecce Vicit Leo" where the five voices fight it out over the words "Et benedictionem" in a clever rip-off of renaissance battle music. Despite the tendency of this kind of church music to get lost in long notes and majestic polyphony (at least to modern ears) Phillips' clever use of rhythm and cadencing in different keys provides ample interest to aid flagging lugholes. I particularly like the range of instruments used here by 'The Parley Of Instruments', including the lute and archlute which add a marvellous twang of authenticity and atmosphere. The Winchester Cathedral Choir are a little rough in places, but these are fortunately too few to cause any great concern on my part and do not detract from the quality of the recording - let's face it, these works were hardly composed with recording in mind, and as such a few glitches provide that 'live' feel which is often steamrollered into oblivion by our digital age.
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