Westminster Cathedral Choir - Exulte Deo: Masterpieces Of Sacred Polyphony

Thursday 1st August 1996
Westminster Cathedral Choir - Exulte Deo: Masterpieces Of Sacred Polyphony

STYLE: Choral
RATING 6 6 6 6 6 6
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 17915-
LABEL: Hyperion 66850
FORMAT: CD Album
ITEMS: 1

Reviewed by John Irvine

There are an increasing number of discs of sacred polyphonic works from the 16th and 17th centuries - the period of music where a single line of sung music was shelved in favour of settings of religious texts in which not only were the number of parts multiplied to give rich and full chordal settings to the main melody line, but also complex rhythms and counter melodies were employed in order to give the greatest glory to God through the human voice...or to make the fame and fortune of the composer, depending on your point of view! This was a very exciting period in the development of choral music and it is not surprising that there are so many discs of music devoted to this era, all of them focussing on the truly great pieces such as Allegri's "Miserere" and filling up the rest of the disc space with at least one piece by each of the foremost composers of this period: Palestrina, Tallis, Byrd, Gabrieli, Victoria. In that respect, this disc is no exception. What is perhaps different is that of the 18 pieces selected here, half are less than three minutes long, the emphasis being on choosing shorter pieces which would have regularly featured in the services of the Holy Roman Church down through the ages, rather than focussing on the "blockbusters". In fact, the only large piece included here is Allegri's "Miserere" clocking in at 11 and a half minutes. Unfortunately for this disc, the centrepiece of the collection, while well sung, fails to pass the "goosebump" test: this reviewer was left strangely unmoved and was forced to dip into another choir's recordings for a more satisfying aural experience. That aside, the boys and men of Westminster are no strangers to the discipline of daily sung services in the Roman Catholic Church, being the working choir at the London Cathedral. This gives them an edge, perhaps, on their secular cousins with regard to the meaning of the words and the sincerity of their performance. Be that as it may, this is still a fine introduction tot he music of this period and a good starting point for anyone just starting out in listening to classical music or wanting to broaden their horizons somewhat. For those of you who are further down this road already, this is not a disc you will find much of interest in.

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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