The Queen's Six - Journeys To The New World: Hispanic Sacred Music from the 16th & 17th Centuries

Published Wednesday 31st March 2021
The Queen's Six - Journeys To The New World: Hispanic Sacred Music from the 16th & 17th Centuries
The Queen's Six - Journeys To The New World: Hispanic Sacred Music from the 16th & 17th Centuries

STYLE: Choral
RATING 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 180465-
LABEL: Signum Classics SIGCD626
FORMAT: CD Album

Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

The Queen's Six are named in honour of Elizabeth I and make up half of the Lay Clerks of St George's Chapel, Windsor where they sing the usual choral repertoire of any Anglican church as well as contributing to Royal occasions, including most recently the weddings of Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank and Prince Harry to Meghan Markel. Like the King's Singers from Cambridge, the Queen's Six are a sextet (obviously) with two counter-tenors and four singing the lower male parts of tenor, baritone and bass and while The Queen's Six specialise in Tudor and Renaissance polyphony they are not averse to tackling material from across the genres. 'Journey To The New World' is a musical trip from the mid-16th century to around 1700, involving music in Late Renaissance style, carrying Spanish Catholicism across the Atlantic to supplant an indigenous culture. Once the invasion had taken root with the conquest of Tenochtitlán and its transformation to Mexico City, the country became the target of fervent friars and preachers, all fired with Christian zeal to convert the native population. From the outset they used music to great effect. The accounts that survive show how successful they were in teaching singing and training choirs to perform liturgical music. By the mid-century it was claimed that standards had reached that of Charles V's chapel back 'home' in Spain. In this recording the singers present music by eight composers. Four of them never went to the New World although their music did with the best-known today being Tomas Luis de Victoria (c. 1548-1611). Three of them were born and trained in Spain and later emigrated to the new colonial cities. One, Francisco Lopez Capillas (1614-1674), became the first composer-choirmaster to be born there of Spanish parents and I am grateful to the helpful liner notes by Bruno Turner for all of this information. The music is somewhat obscure but still worth hearing and The Queen's Six, singing a cappella throughout, have a lovely tone, helped no doubt by the splendid acoustic at Ascot Priory. If you enjoy Late Renaissance choral music then this is worth further investigation.

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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