CD Review: Tallis 'Spem in alium' etc Oxford Camerata/Summerly

Tallis: Spem in alium, Salve intemerata virgo, Missa Salve intermerata virgo, Three Motets: 'With all our heart', 'Discomfort them, O Lord', 'I call and cry to thee, O Lord' The Oxford Camerata/Jeremy Summerly NAXOS 8.557770 This is a review of the conventional CD release not the SACD version

I must admit in spite of my large classical collection that I'm unfortunately rather ignorant of music pre Bach or Vivaldi, give or take some snippets of Monteverdi and Gesualdo. In fact, my only previous musical encounter with Tallis comes from Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis' which itself is based on an obscure motet. Of course, I've heard great things about Spem in alium, the motet written for forty voices and split into eight five voice choirs, but never acutally heard it (well at least properly all the way through). Released to celebrate the anniversary of Tallis' five hundreth birthday, Naxos mere eighteenth birthday, and at the normal Naxos bargain price my curiosity was piqued.

What can I say, boy was I missing out; what beautiful, awesome, grand and sublime music! I don't have any other recordings of Spem or the other works at hand to compare with but I can't really expect these performances to be bettered elsewhere easily. The performances are performed in a generally superb acoustic and brilliantly engineered, given the complexity of the forces involved, to provide a clear, dynamic and audible sound palette under Summerly's direction. In the performances themelves, Clarity of tone, intonation and line are especially striking in Spem in alium and the Missa Salve intermata. With the Missa Salve as a fine coupling you get two great works for the price of one. It is also pleasing that the liner notes are also very helpful and informative in setting Tallis work into a historical as well as musical context. All in all, if your even remotely interested in listening to great music for £4.99 you can't go wrong.