Tallis: Spem in Alium & Other Sacred Music cover

Tallis: Spem in Alium & Other Sacred Music

Composer
Released

Thomas Tallis, whom many consider the greatest composer in English history, is responsible for some of the most stark and beautiful English-language songs in the sacred repertoire. But he is perhaps most famous for Spem in alium, a Latin motet written in 40 parts. As one might imagine, it’s a monumental work that sounds like almost nothing else from the Renaissance period: dense, heavy, exalted, sometimes overwhelming. On this album it contrasts nicely with his much more modest and straightforward psalm settings and liturgical pieces.

Rick Anderson

Suggestions
John Browne: Music from the Eton Choirbook cover

John Browne: Music from the Eton Choirbook

Peter Phillips, The Tallis Scholars
Arvo Pärt: Tintinnabuli cover

Arvo Pärt: Tintinnabuli

Peter Phillips, The Tallis Scholars
Arvo Pärt: Odes of Repentance cover

Arvo Pärt: Odes of Repentance

Arvo Pärt, Alexander Lingas, Cappella Romana
Gavin Bryars: The Fifth Century cover

Gavin Bryars: The Fifth Century

Prism Quartet, The Crossing, Gavin Bryars, Donald Nally
 La Hèle: Missa Praeter rerum seriem & works by Manchicourt, Payen & Rogier cover

La Hèle: Missa Praeter rerum seriem & works by Manchicourt, Payen & Rogier

El León de Oro, Marco Antonio Garcia de Paz, Peter Phillips
La Oreja de Zurbaran cover

La Oreja de Zurbaran

Huelgas Ensemble, Paul van Nevel
Josquin: Motets & Mass Movements cover

Josquin: Motets & Mass Movements

The Brabant Ensemble, Stephen Rice
Muffat: Missa in Labore Requies cover

Muffat: Missa in Labore Requies

Les Cornets Noirs, Cappella Murensis
Adriano 3 cover

Adriano 3

Dionysos Now!, Adrian Willaert