Search - The Cardinall's Misick, Andrew Carwood :: Victoria: Missa Gaudeamus, etc / Carwood, Cardinall's Music

Beautiful Music Beautifully Sung

Thomas Tallis | Long Beach, CA United States | 06/19/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Victoria is one of the most important composers of the High Renaissance. This recording, made over the space of a year presents two of his most engaging masses in beautiful performances in an appropriately warm acoustic (actually two venues).This group's approach to musica ficta has not been to smooth out all of the "wrong notes" but to leave many in. The result suggests that their approach is the correct one. The added piquancy of the dissonances only adds to the expressiveness of the music.English groups have, for years, changed few notes in the music of native Renaissance composers (notably Tallis) and it's good to see them applying the same principles to continental composers.This recording is the one of the finest Victoria recordings available. It avoids the rather acidic sounding boys of the Westminster Cathedral recordings and the muddy acoustics of many other recordings. Go for it. You won't be sorry if you love Renaissance music."