Diapason d’Or, February 2019
In a Strange Land
The regime of Queen Elizabeth I dealt harshly with supporters of the old Catholic religion. Torn between obedience and conscience, some of England’s most talented musicians – Philips, Dering and Dowland – chose a life of exile abroad. Others chose to remain in spiritual isolation in England, comparing themselves to the exiled Israelites in Babylon. Amongst them were Robert White, whose five-part Lamentations are one of the glories of English music of any age, and William Byrd, whose anguished Catholic music is referenced in Shakespeare’s enigmatic poem The Phoenix and the Turtle, vividly set by Huw Watkins especially for Stile Antico, and receiving its first recording here.
Recorded: February, 2018
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Format: CD
Catalogue Number: HMM902266
The dozen voices of Stile Antico give achingly expressive performances of Elizabethan masterpieces… Outstanding.
Sunday Times
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The ensemble blends beautifully, so the harmonies seem to glow… an ecstatic performance.
Classical Iconoclast (11 December, 2018)
The dozen voices of Stile Antico give achingly expressive performances of Elizabethan masterpieces…
SP, Sunday Times (6th January, 2019)
Stile Antico, as ever, excel in plangency… their sound is meltingly gorgeous.
Edward Breen, Gramophone (January 2019)
Stile Antico… sing with glowing perfection and textural precision
Ken Walton, The Scotsman (January 14th, 2019)
Superb… as a survey of the beautifully wrought and moving church music of England’s hidden Catholics, this CD could hardly be bettered.
Ivan Hewitt, The Daily Telegraph (13 January, 2019)
Stile Antico, the 12-strong ensemble whose name signals tonal purity, precision and musical intelligence…
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer (20 January, 2019)
As imaginatively conceived and exquisitely sung as one would expect… Superb performances that combine ensemble warmth with just enough grit to intensify the emotional edge.
James M. Keller, Santa Fe New Mexican (8 February, 2019)
Stile Antico are brought out in their full intensity by the program… a recommended release.
James Mannheim, Allmusic.com (February, 2019)
The emotional force of these songs transcends formal perfection and vocal purity: it speaks through the harmonious and balanced interweaving of voices…
EH, La Liberté (19 January 2019)
- Dowland: Flow, my tears
- Byrd: Tristitia et anxietas
- Dering: Factum est silentium
- Dowland: In this trembling shadow
- Philips: Gaude Maria virgo
- De Monte: Super flumina Babylonis
- Byrd: Quomodo cantabimus
- Philips: Regina caeli, laetare
- Huw Watkins: The Phoenix and the Turtle
- White: Lamentations a5