Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

John Taverner (c.1490-1545) stands at the end of one period of church music and the opening of the next. Following the deaths of Robert Fayrfax and William Cornysh at the beginning of the 1520s Taverner stood alone as the leading English composer but by the next decade Tye, Tallis, and Sheppard moved to the fore. All had been influenced by Taverner and even though Tallis and, slightly later, Byrd, were to surpass him, Taverner's music retained its popularity. In the late twentieth century a distant descendant with one letter missing from his surname, John Tavener, became probably the most popular classical composer of his generation. This excellent CD gives a very good introduction to the Tudor Taverner. We open with what is his best-known composition, his first setting of the Easter Matins respond "Dum Transisset Sabbatum". Also we get a later setting of the same text which makes for an interesting comparison. The centrepiece though is the "Missa Corona Spinea", one of his three six-part masses. The title of the Mass, "Corona Spinea" ("Crown Of Thorns") gives us a clue to its origins. Catherine of Aragon was known to have been devoted to the cult of Christ's Passion, one of whose emblems was the Crown of Thorns and her personal motto, "Not for my crown" seems too close for coincidence. But while the musicologists and historians can and do spend a long time on these technical matters what we want to know is what of the music and the performance? Taverner is the greatest composer in what is now called the English florid style which looked back to medieval plainchant and ahead to what developed into baroque. In Duncan Ferguson's debut recording with the accomplished Choir of St Mary's Cathedral, he presents Taverner's music with ensembles akin to those of the sixteenth century - a small group of children and a larger number of men. Pedants will point out that the modern choir has girls as well as boys so total authenticity is lacking. But the rest of us will ignore this quibble and applaud a magnificent performance of some challenging and timeless choral music.

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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