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Missa Nigra Sum
Palestrina, Phillips, The Tallis Scholars
Missa Nigra Sum
Genres: Special Interest, Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (9) - Disc #1

Most listeners who have a passing acquaintance with Palestrina think he wrote relatively simple, cheerful major-key choir music. With this record, Peter Phillips and the Tallis Scholars showed that there's another, more su...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Palestrina, Phillips, The Tallis Scholars, P. Philips
Title: Missa Nigra Sum
Members Wishing: 3
Total Copies: 0
Label: Gimell UK
Release Date: 6/28/1993
Genres: Special Interest, Classical
Style: Opera & Classical Vocal
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 028945490328

Synopsis

Amazon.com
Most listeners who have a passing acquaintance with Palestrina think he wrote relatively simple, cheerful major-key choir music. With this record, Peter Phillips and the Tallis Scholars showed that there's another, more subdued and mystical side to Palestrina. The motet Nigra sum by Jean Lhéritier (a disciple of Josquin Desprez) and the Mass Palestrina based on it have a minor-key tonality and a cool intensity very different from the stereotype of Palestrina's music, yet with all the elegant clarity typical of the composer. The Tallis Scholars' performance is equally elegant and clear--they really are an ideal choir for Palestrina. --Matthew Westphal

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CD Reviews

Heavenly choral music
Victoria | Florida | 12/09/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Palestrina is one of my favorite Renaissance composers; his music has a crystalline, unearthly purity of tone and harmony, and this CD is no exception. Sung by the Tallis Scholars, an excellent group of singers specializing in music from this time period, "Palestrina: Missa Nigra Sum" contains not only Palestrina's rendering of this mass but also four other composers' written before and after his.



While the entire CD is worth listening to, it is Palestrina's work that captures the listener with its beauty and rich modal texture, dwelling a great deal on minor harmonies. It is immensely accessible for anyone with a passing interest in "classical music," and the clarity and slight reverb of this recording is a great asset to such beautiful compositions as the multiple Missae "Nigra Sum," as it will make you feel as if you were hearing it in a cathedral."