Aside from how tremendous the music is and how terrific the performances are, the first thing one notices about this disc is how good it sounds. With incredibly warm and unbelievably immediate sound, Harmonia Mundi has always been one of the best classical labels in the world. But, even by its standards, the sound of the Choir of Magdalen College (Oxford) is palpably real, with the singers' breath blowing lightly on the hair on the nape of the neck.
But beyond the sound, the music itself is tremendous. Christopher Tye was right up there with his contemporary Thomas Tallis when it came to Anglican church music. Aside from the rightness of the harmonies and the gracefulness of the lines, Tye's music partakes of the essence of the greatest sacred music: the fusion of time with eternity. From ecstatic melody to blessed polyphony, Tye's music sings with the proud and independent spirit of the Church of England.
And beyond the music, the performances are terrific. A follow-up to a wonderful disc of Orlando Gibbons, Bill Ives leads the Choir of Magdalen College in interpretations of rapturous precision, with the clarity of diction, the lucidity of textures, and the warmth of tone of the best English choirs of the past century. Interspersed with the performances are four of Tye's organ works performed by Richard Pinel. With a touch like water over rocks and a tone like the wind through the leaves, Pinel's playing is a force of nature. Anyone with ears to hear will enjoy this disc.