Product Description This album brings together six English composers whose combined careers span more than a century Byrd, Tallis, Morley, Philips, White and Tomkins. The title Vigilate! (Be watchful!) epitomises the clandestine character of recusant music-making in Elizabethan England, by undercover Catholic composers of the time. The pieces on this recording display the richly imaginative, devout and diverse responses of musical craftsmen who worked with unfailing creativity in difficult times. The album comes in our usual casebook packaging and contains a 36 pages booklet with notes by Kerry McCarthy and texts in German, English and French. In March 2014, the Monteverdi Choir will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary. Review New York Times, Classical Best of 2014: This wrenching collection of Elizabethan responses to political and religious turbulence marks the Monteverdi Choir's 50th anniversary. Thomas Tallis, Robert White, Thomas Morley and Peter Philips are all represented, but William Byrd's "Turn our captivity," his "Nunc dimittis," and Thomas Tomkins's desperate, doubting "Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom" are the recording's troubled heart. -David Allen, New York Times "Heads up!" was good advice to any Catholic in Elizabethan England, and Catholic composers with high public profiles had to be especially watchful. William Byrd famously kept his head by maintaining a strong personal relationship with the Queen; others, like Peter Philips, Robert White, Thomas Tallis, Thomas Morley, and Thomas Tomkins managed to write sacred music in the Catholic tradition without too much persecution, though their music often reflects the bloody controversies of the day - sometimes explicitly, sometimes subtly. As always, the Monteverdi Choir's performances of works by all of these composers (including Byrd's hair-raisingly moving "Civitas sancti tui" setting) are radiant. Strongly recommended to all libraries. --CD Hotlist, September 2014ASIN: B00J587LG4VSKU: GGV.B00J587LG4.VGCondition: Very GoodAuthor/Artist:TALLIS / BYRD / PHILIPS / WHITE;Binding: Audio CD
