Considering he was
one of the major composers of the Tudor
era, we know so little about Tallis.
The date of his birth is pure conjecture;
he was described as ‘very old’ in 1577
and dying in 1585, but he was already
a respected professional musician in
1530. These mysteries are compounded
when it comes to his 40 part motet,
Spem in Alium.
Our knowledge of the
motet comes from a manuscript prepared
for the coronation of Prince Harry (Eldest
son of James 1st) as Prince
of Wales - the motet was repeated at
the ceremony for Prince Charles, after
Harry had died. This manuscript uses
a new English text (‘Sing and Glorify’),
probably because the Latin text was
considered to be too sombre. So we do
not have the original manuscript for
the motet and its first performance
seems to have left little trace.
Obviously the work’s
first performances made sufficient impact
on the aristocratic music-lovers of
the time for the work to be revived
some forty years after its first performance.
This revival in 1610 led someone to
reminisce about the first performance,
describing how Striggio’s visit to London
with his forty part motet led a Duke
- probably the Duke of Norfolk - to
suggest an English composer attempt
the feat. Tallis’s motet was then first
performed in the Long Gallery of Arundel
House in the Strand - owned by Norfolk’s
son-in-law, the Earl of Arundel.
We must bear in mind
that these are reminiscences some forty
years after the date. But the liner
notes for the Oxford Camerata’s new
disc point out that Arundel also owned
Nonsuch Palace, whose octagon banqueting
hall would have been ideal for performance
of the work.
All this historical
background or lack of it is important,
as it informs our choices when it comes
to the type of performance of Spem
in Alium that we desire. Large-scale
performances produce something akin
to a choral sound. This is well demonstrated
by the performance by Winchester Cathedral
Choir and Winchester College Quiristers
under David Hill (recorded in 1989 on
Hyperion). Here, though the choir size
might not be huge, they are recorded
well back in the generous acoustic of
Winchester Cathedral, resulting in a
well balanced wall of sound.
But even recording
just forty voices, there are still choices
to be made, particularly when it comes
to acoustic. The Chapelle du Roi under
Alistair Dixon on Signum recorded the
work in 2002 in the echoing spaces of
All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, with
the result that at times they sound
as if they are trying to be a bigger
choir. You must turn to Peter Philips
and the Tallis Scholars on Gimell or
to Mark Brown and Pro Cantione Antiqua
if you want a performance which tries
to bring clarity to the complex textures.
Unfortunately on the present disc, the
forty singers of the Oxford Camerata
are recorded in the same venue as the
Chapelle du Roi, with similar acoustic
results.
The singers are arranged
in a circle and if listened to on SACD,
this must sound spectacular as the sound
washes round you. But I listened on
CD and found the aural image a little
confusing, I found Alistair Dixon’s
performance, where the opening sounds
move from left to right, rather preferable.
The present performance
is beautifully shaped and controlled,
how could it not be when the choir includes
such luminaries as Carolyn Sampson and
Robin Blaze. The engineers to quite
a good job at picking up the detail
of the individual parts, though I would
prefer more clarity and less reverberation.
Musically, this is an inspiring performance
and it would be a joy to hear live,
but where I part company with it is
in the constant presence of All Hallows
in the background, in the form of a
steady background hum of reverberation.
Next time someone records the piece,
can we not attempt to reconstruct the
work’s rather intimate first performance
and come up with something a little
more small scale perhaps, but with more
of a feeling for detail.
Spem in Alium cannot
be understood without considering the
influence of early Tudor polyphony,
so it is apposite that the Oxford Camerata
have chosen to accompany the work with
a pair of Tallis’s early sacred works.
The motet Salve Intemerata is
present in a manuscript copied in the
late 1520s so it must have been written
early in Tallis’s career. It is an astonishing
work for one so young and is a fluent
and accomplished piece of early Tudor
polyphony in all its elaborate glory.
Tallis mass based on the motet Salve
Intemerata was written in the late
1530s when he was working at St. Mary-at-Hill
in London. The mass is a significant
achievement and is far more mature and
concise than the motet on which it is
based.
The motet and the mass
use radically fewer parts than Spem
in Alium and the Oxford Camerata
slims down to just 12 or 13 voices.
The results are as impressive as the
bigger motet, more so in fact as the
reduction in parts comes with a significant
increase in clarity. The acoustics of
All Hallows still have a part to play,
but they obscure the textures rather
less.
The disc is filled
with a trio of Tallis’s English motets.
Well performed as they are, they seem
a little unnecessary after the elaborate
feast of Tallis’s Latin music. It would
have been nice, but probably not economic,
if they could have finished with a performance
of Sing and Glorify.
Naxos will be hoping
to sell this disc on the basis of the
attraction of Spem in Alium,
but I should buy it for the lovely performances
of the mass and the motet, Salve
intemerata.
Robert Hugill
see CD reviews
by Kevin
Sutton and John
Quinn and DVD audio review by Paul
Shoemaker
June Bargain of the Month
Oxford Camerata/Jeremy Summerly
NAXOS 6.110111 [77.19] 
