Search - Alistair Dixon, Chapelle du Roi :: Tallis: Complete Works Vol 4 / Dixon, Chapelle du Roi

Thomas Tallis may be one of the great patriarchs of English church music, but even many Renaissance aficionados know only a few pieces, such as the deliciously melancholy Lamentations of Jeremiah and the astonishing Spem in alium for 40 voices. Luckily, we have Alistair Dixon's series of Tallis's complete works to introduce the composer's many lesser-known gems. Volume 4 concentrates on music for the Divine Office--the round of daily services other than Mass, the best-known of which is Vespers. While there's no reconstruction of a liturgy on this disc, all the works have sections of plainchant built into their structures. (The excellent booklet notes by Nick Sandon explain just what these services and musical forms involve.) One notable feature of the entire series is that Dixon doesn't transpose Tallis's music up (as the Tallis Scholars and the Sixteen have done in the past), so the treble parts aren't punishingly high for the sopranos' voices--or listeners' ears. What really stands out about this CD, however, is the full-throated singing: Dixon's choir can certainly be sweet and even delicate when need be (In pace in idipsum from the late-evening service of Compline, for example), but the more festive pieces such as Hodie nobis for Christmas and Dum transisset Sabbatum for Easter sound almost lusty. Strongly recommended. --Matthew Westphal