Wednesday, 29 September, 2021 at 11:00 am
Music for Female Monarchs
Martin Randall Travel
Chapel of The Queen’s College, Oxford, United Kingdom
Reviews
Media Vita reviewed in St Louis
Sarah Bryan Miller, St Louis Post-Dispatch (1 March, 2010)
I was blown away by the happy surprise of this near-flawless recording of choral music by the too-little-known Tudor-era composer John Sheppard. Stile Antico is a remarkable group of 14 young British singers who sing with style, blend, intelligence and clarity: the music here is gorgeous, and so is the music-making. The centerpiece in this cleanly made recording is the title anthem, a monumental setting (at close to 30 minutes long) of the Nunc dimittis that ranks as one of the greatest pieces of choral writing in its era. There is not, however, a wasted note on the entire disc. Stile Antico, which won a Grammy [Gramophone Award] in 2009, shows by this effort that the group has staying power. I look forward to hearing the rest of their oeuvre.