Tudor Choral

Tallis, Thomas : Te lucis ante terminum

II. The Liberation of the Gothic: Florid polyphony by Thomas Ashwell and John Browne (Graindelavoix/Björn Schmelzer). Glossa CD GCD P32115.

Some may find such links speculative at best and futile at worst. Regardless of this, it is surely gratifying that the wonderful music that emerged in England during this period is now being taken up by some brilliant choirs outside the UK. Scott Metcalfe’s magnificent Blue Heron group from Boston, MA have recorded five volumes of material from the so-called Peterhouse Partbooks (four of them reviewed here, the fifth recently won the Gramophone’s 2018 Early Music award). Now this excellent Antwerp-based group have recorded music from the Eton Choirbook by John Browne, and a large mass by the virtually forgotten Thomas Ashwell. In fact, these two works by Browne have been recorded before. Both were laid down by the Tallis Scholars for a terrific Gimell release in 2004 (review), while the Stabat Mater features on an Eton Choirbook recital by Tonus Peregrinus on Naxos (review). As for Ashwell, most sources state that manuscripts of his two complete masses survived the Reformation. One, the Missa Jesu Christe (for 6 voices) was recorded by Christ Church Cathedral Choir under Stephen Darlington for Metronome (review). The Missa Ave Maria featured on a 2008 Harmonia Mundi disc La Quinta Essentia along with masses by Palestrina and Lassus (HM 901922). It was performed by the Huelgas Ensemble under Paul Van Nevel. 
The accounts of the two Browne motets on this recording sound very different from those mentioned above. I do not think it is stretching the imagination to suggest that the innocent ear might struggle to recognise the music on this issue as English. One observation is that the idea of continental groups recording English polyphony is still relatively new, but Graindelavoix take this a stage further. In the Salve Regina their eight voices produce a gloriously full sound, apt for a piece which projects wave upon wave of melody. This is a spacious, lingering reading, noticeably slower than the Tallis Scholars’ account. Much more apparent, however, is the ornate, quasi-improvisational decoration that Schmelzer coaxes from his singers, intervals are bent, stretched and turned into an almost tangible connecting fabric. Those listeners who are steeped in the English Cathedral tradition may find it disconcerting but I found these adornments to be far from vulgar; they certainly seem to add something to the music. The Tallis Scholars may project the essential clarity of Browne’s flowing lines better, but both approaches convincingly draw out his seemingly infinite melodic gifts in their own ways. At times the tone of the middle voices tends toward a Gallic, rather nasal sound. I do not state this pejoratively, it is merely an observation. I do think the central section of this Salve Regina sounds a bit laboured compared to the Tallis Scholars’ more propulsive, driven account. Notwithstanding this impression, Graindelavoix’s sound is unquestionably beautiful, the recording is full and spacious. I commend it as a credible alternative to what might one expect from an English choir. 
Turning to the Stabat Mater, in comparison to the Tallis Scholars’ efforts this performance certainly sounds more exotic, even perfumed, and I certainly found it seductive. Again, one unfamiliar with the work would struggle, I think, to place it as English late-Gothic. This account seems more expansive, enabling Schmelzer to create the space for some of Browne’s extraordinary dissonances to register more emphatically. The style encountered in this choir’s Salve Regina applies here too. As an approach it may seem provocative to some, but I find it most alluring, and by presenting the music in this way Schmelzer certainly adds credence to some of Paul Binski’s theories, and specifically how they might apply to pre-Reformation English cathedral music. While I found it somewhat revelatory to hear Browne sung like this, the Tallis Scholars’ reading is absolutely timeless and arguably speaks more directly (and chastely) to my English sensibilities. The Scholars are also superbly recorded in their usual Salle bolthole in deepest Norfolk. Anthony Pitts’s Naxos recording with Tonus Peregrinus also features some fine singing in perhaps more intimate sound, but good though their performance is, it ultimately feels just a little earthbound compared to the two other accounts under consideration here. 

III. Renaissance Reborn: Choral Masterworks Given a New Life   (Via Veritate/Dennis Shrock). Gia CD 1036.