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Track(s) taken from CDA67938

Te lucis ante terminum I

composer
5vv ATTBarB; Festal tone; Cantiones, quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur, 1575
author of text
Hymn at Compline

Westminster Cathedral Choir, Martin Baker (conductor)
Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
CD-Quality:
Studio Master:
CD-Quality:
Studio Master:
Recording details: October 2011
Westminster Cathedral, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Adrian Peacock
Engineered by David Hinitt
Release date: January 2013
Total duration: 2 minutes 7 seconds

Cover artwork: The Annunciation with two saints and four prophets (1333). Simone Martini (1284-1344)
& Lippo Memmi (fl1317-1347). Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence / Giraudon / Bridgeman Images
 

Other recordings available for download

The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood (conductor)
The Gesualdo Six, Owain Park (director)
Winchester Cathedral Choir, David Hill (conductor)
The Cambridge Singers, John Rutter (conductor)
Chapelle du Roi, Alistair Dixon (conductor)

Reviews

‘The choir is on excellent form and the recorded sound seems perfectly to capture a sense of place, of atmosphere’ (Gramophone)

‘This is an album for those who love the acoustic, the atmosphere and the traditions of the Roman Catholic Cathedral in London … the pacing and cohesion of the Agnus Dei of Palestrina's Missa Emendemus in melius is accomplished and moving, and their singing of plainsong with organ second-to-none’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘The true musical spirit of the Lenten season … is to be found in the ancient antiphons, psalms and motets which have been part of the liturgical fabric of the season for centuries. This is what we have here, and an intensely beautiful CD it makes too … nobody could remain untouched by the profound beauty and timelessness of this music, and given these unaffected, sensitive and fluent performances from a choir which has been singing Lenten music in a liturgical context for decades, the result is something very special indeed … this is a beautifully devised programme, sung with ineffable perceptiveness by the Westminster choristers and recorded with utterly natural atmosphere by the Hyperion team’ (International Record Review)
Thomas Tallis wrote two settings of the compline hymn Te lucis ante terminum, both of which were published in the 1575 Cantiones sacrae. This first setting—like the second—sets only the middle of the three verses in polyphony. The treble part replicates the pitches of the pre-existent chant melody note for note (with the addition of a single ornamental leading note at the final cadence) in a lilting triple-time rhythm, and the accompanying harmonization is a model of economy and placid beauty, nowhere more so than at the delicately handled Picardian cadence at the end of the third phrase.

from notes by Jeremy Summerly © 2013

Thomas Tallis fit deux mises en musique de l’hymne de complies Te lucis ante terminum. Toutes deux figurent dans les Cantiones sacrae de 1575; comme la seconde, cette première ne met en polyphonie que la deuxième des trois strophes. La partie de treble reproduit note pour note les hauteurs de son de la mélodie grégorienne préexistante (avec l’ajout d’une unique sensible ornementale à la cadence finale), sur un allant rythme ternaire, et l’harmonisation d’accompagnement est un modèle d’économie et de beauté placide, qui n’apparaît nulle part mieux qu’à la cadence picarde, subtilement manipulée, à la fin de la troisième phrase.

extrait des notes rédigées par Jeremy Summerly © 2013
Français: Hypérion

Thomas Tallis schrieb zwei Vertonungen des Komplet-Hymnus Te lucis ante terminum, die beide in den Cantiones sacrae von 1575 veröffentlicht wurden. Hier liegt die erste Version vor, in der—ebenso wie in der zweiten—nur der mittlere der drei Verse polyphon vertont ist. Die Treble-Stimme gibt die bereits bestehende Melodie des Cantus planus Ton für Ton wieder (wobei der Schlusskadenz ein Leitton zur Verzierung hinzugefügt ist), die in einen beschwingten Dreierrhythmus eingepasst ist. Die begleitende Harmonisierung ist ein Vorbild an Ökonomie und friedlicher Schönheit, insbesondere bei der behutsam gesetzten Kadenz mit Picardischer Terz am Ende der dritten Phrase.

aus dem Begleittext von Jeremy Summerly © 2013
Deutsch: Viola Scheffel

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Tallis: Spem in alium & other choral works
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