Absterge Domine was one of Tallis’s most popular settings appearing in four
contrafacta sources as well as the 1575
Cantiones Sacrae. Deeply penitential in character, it falls into a number of short sections some of which are repeated for dramatic effect. Tallis’s sure hand for drama is obvious throughout, allowing the motet to rise and fall, using minor and major modes to heighten and release the dramatic flow.
from notes by Andrew Carwood © 2005
