Search - Tallis Scholars, Phillips :: Complete English Anthems

One of the greatest challenges faced by English composer Thomas Tallis was to adapt his prodigious talent--and sublimate his lifelong devotion to the Catholic faith--to the demands of the newly-founded Anglican Church. From the beginning of the Reformation in the 1530s, composers for the Anglican service were required to write music that was "modest" and "plainly understood"; to utilize "the best sort of melody and music" and "not be full of notes." Above all, the texts had to be in English rather than Latin. Tallis took to this task using his full creative powers--and left a collection of works that are in their own right as sublimely beautiful and well constructed as his more elaborate settings of music for the Catholic liturgy. This recording features all of the English anthems, many of them still in use in Anglican services today, sensitively and earnestly sung by the Tallis Scholars. --David Vernier