Edison Klassiek Award, 2011
Puer natus est
Stile Antico’s fifth recording, winner of the Edison Klassiek Award 2011, the Diapason d’or and the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, focuses on the wonderful music written by the English Tudor composers for the seasons of Advent and Christmas. At its heart is Thomas Tallis’ magnificent seven-part ‘Christmas’ Mass, based on the festive plainchant Puer natus est (‘A boy is born’). The mass is interspersed with William Byrd’s exquisite propers for the fourth Sunday of Advent, and framed by responsories by Taverner and Sheppard, Robert White’s exuberant setting of the Magnificat, and Tallis’ own sublime Videte miraculum.
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Recorded: January, 2010
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Format: Hybrid SACD
Catalogue Number: HMU807517
A disc of sumptuous warmth and rapture from this wonderful British early music choir. The chosen Tudor church repertoire relates to Advent and Christmas, but it’s really music for all time, all seasons.
The Times
Choc de Classica, November 2010
Diapason d’or, October 2010
International Record Review – Outstanding, October 2010
Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, I/2011
Their best recording yet… Stile Antico’s account of the Tallis Mass is masterful, displaying this small director-less choir’s sure sense of this expansive work’s architecture. Tuning and ensemble are perfect throughout… In short, another triumph for Stile Antico and Harmonia Mundi.
Christopher Price, International Record Review (October 2010)
Mesmerising… Exquisite music, performed with a sense of wondrous discovery, and perfect spiritual comfort for the troubled soul.
Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk
Stile Antico, the new jewel of of English a cappella singing… have a flair for varying the mood and delineating the great waves which bring the music to life. Amongst the maze of recordings of this repertoire, so beloved of English groups, one piece of advice: Audite miraculum – listen to this miracle.
David Fiala, Diapason (October 2010)
These exquisite Tudor masterpieces for the seasons of Advent and Christmas are brought to translucent life by the young British choral group Stile Antico… utterly ravishing.
Sarah Bryan Miller, St Louis Post-Dispatch (5 December, 2010)
The sound of the ensemble is ravishing in its warmth and the evenness of its blend. The performances are expressive, but never idiosyncratically so; the singers have no interpretive agenda other than letting the composers’ voices be heard as beautifully and authentically as possible.
Stephen Eddins, AllMusic (November 2010)
Terry Blain, BBC Music Magazine (December 2010)
Repeated hearings have done nothing to shorten the depth or diminish the intensity of first impressions left by Stile Antico’s work here. Puer natus est is for life, not just for Christmas!
Andrew Stewart, Classic FM Magazine (December 2010)
Stile Antico, probably the finest Early Music vocal chamber group this country has ever produced, have devised a disc of “Tudor Music for Advent and Christmas”… They shape each piece with immaculate balance and refinement, a mood much helped by the recording engineers.
David Denton, The Yorkshire Post (5 November, 2010)
A disc of sumptuous warmth and rapture from this wonderful British early music choir… Singing without a conductor, the choir’s tuning and rapport are impeccable. Clap your hands too for the atmospheric acoustic, bathing it all in gold.
Geoff Brown, The Times (30 October, 2010)
Another great disc by the young British polyphony choir Stile Antico? Yes, but this one is a step above the previous recordings made in its few years of existence… Next to this one, many recordings of similar reputation have a beautiful blankness. Once you start this disc, you can’t tear yourself away.
David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer (17 October, 2010)
I remember 25 years ago when I first heard The Tallis Scholars and thought how lucky we early music fans were to have this group and its recordings and performances to look forward to; with continuing respect for Peter Phillips and his groundbreaking ensemble, I find those same thoughts returning with every new Stile Antico recording. Highly recommended.
David Vernier, Classics Today (23 August, 2010)
Surely the pick of the new CDs for Christmas this year, this exquisitely performed and beautifully planned disc is another winner for Stile Antico… what a sound: perfectly blended, carefully balanced, its sonorities reaching back effortlessly to conjure up a vanished age of devotion.
Nicholas Kenyon, The Observer (17 October, 2010)
I said earlier on that this was my first encounter with Stile Antico: I shall make sure it’s not my last. I can only urge you to acquire this exceptionally fine disc and let the radiance of the music and the performances illuminate your Christmas.
John Quinn, MusicWeb International (18 November, 2010)
I can’t imagine the music ever sounded as good as it does in Stile Antico’s capable hands…
Rick Hamlin, Opera News (December 2010)
Stile Antico brings delicious balance and otherworldly beauty to this recording of music by Tallis, Taverner, Byrd, White and Sheppard. Listening will restore meaning to the holidays amid the retail onslaught.
Daniel J. Wakin, New York Times (26 November, 2010)
Stile Antico has come through with another gem. This disc of Tudor music for Advent and Christmas shows off the elegance and richness of the English style, in performances marked by tonal purity and translucent vocal textures.
Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle (24 October, 2010)
- Tallis: Videte miraculum
- Taverner: Audivi vocem de caelo
- Byrd: Rorate caeli desuper
- Tallis: Gloria (Missa Puer natus est)
- Byrd: Tollite portas
- Tallis: Sanctus & Benedictus (Missa Puer natus est)
- Byrd: Ave Maria
- Tallis: Agnus Dei (Missa Puer natus est)
- Byrd: Ecce virgo concipiet
- White: Magnificat
- Plainchant: Puer natus est
- Sheppard: Verbum caro