The Phoenix Rising

31 Memorable Recordings from 2013

AllMusic’s Favorite Classical Vocal Albums of 2013

I continue to rely on this album for the luxury of letting my mind go free. ...Stile Antico is a vocal ensemble of a dozen or more persons that is conductorless. It functions as a chamber ensemble in which each member contributes something personal to the musical result. Their spacious but precise approach is marked by spontaneous and subtle shifts of tempo and rhythm that have brought them to the front rank of Rennaisance choirs.The prospect of listening to this harmonious blend of voices expanding passion into peace, focus into freedom, will unwind your mind to a wonderful space of being beyond all styles of worship. The album is richly produced and beautifully recorded with the support of the Carnegie UK Trust.

“The Phoenix Rising presents a sublime melange of the 16th Century composed from Gibbons to Morely… the performances are incredibly meticulous. The diction is second to none, each word is clearly pronounced and the recording quality is so well balanced, one can hear each part at all times… overall exquisite sound.”

Stile Antico is one of the finest vocal ensembles in today's concert scene and the voices blend as one... The program flows together effortlessly... The surround sound is unobtrusive... If you know this group, you will not be disappointed. If you do not, you must hear a remarkable singing ensemble.

Stile Antico brings the encompassing strength of a medium-sized ensemble sound, without losing the intimacy and refinement of a small vocal ensemble... If I had to single out one performance... it would be Gibbons's Almighty and everlasting God... the immediate beauty of the anthem, combined with the perfect tonal integration Stile Antico achieves, makes this an impossible performance to beat.

This music is sophisticated, voiced brilliantly and is heartbreakingly beautiful.It is stunningly recorded by Harmonia Mundi where every vowel is round and fat and every consonant, tactile. The tuning is flawless and the musicality is exceptional. Stile Antico is a wonderful young group of British singers. Buy this CD. Turn up the fire, lower the lights and be transported to another time. After the CD is finished and you open your eyes, you may wish to go back. ASAP. Hypnotic and highly recommended.

The superb British early-music choir Stile Antico offers a beautifully sung program of Tudor church music, including William Byrd’s richly polyphonic Mass for Five Voices. The disc also includes haunting renditions of music by Tallis, Thomas Morley and Orlando Gibbons.

Sometimes a recording comes along, and it seems pointless to describe its many virtues. The artists have long since established a reputation for excellence; the repertoire includes many of the most beloved works in a genre; the sound could hardly be bettered. All you can do is point the consumer toward certain bliss... This conductor-less ensemble does wonders... superhumanly pristine renditions of Renaissance church music.

This is a flawless and lovely performanced historically fascinating program rendered with great musical sensitivity.

They sing it well: voices are excellent and as an ensemble they have coherence and clarity.

There’s a forthright quality to the voices of Stile Antico, and especially its sopranos, that suits this English repertoire, balancing beauty with an intensity that reminds us that this is the music of protest and oppression as well as faith.

Er staat Engelse religieuze muziek op uit de Tudor-periode, van Byrd, Tallis, Morley, Gibbons en anderen. In deze wonderschone, kwetsbare muziek leveren de twaalf zangers een fraai staaltje Engelse koorzang.Ze zingen spatgelijk, loepzuiver, met een gekruid geluid en gevoel voor urgentie. Dwingende melodische lijnen monden uit in slotakkoorden die als balsem zijn voor de ziel. Om stil van te worden.

RECORDING OF THE MONTH
“Throughout the disc the clarity of each individual vocal line is superbly evident, helped by the brilliantly captured sound in the acoustic of St Jude’s church. The Harmonia Mundi engineers have done a great job of ensuring that everything is audible: I listened in 2.0 stereo, but I imagine the SACD sound must be staggering. The clarity of the choir’s diction is also first rate; both in English and in Latin every word is audible. The booklet also contains full sung texts and translations. Yet another feather in Stile Antico’s already resplendent cap.”
October 2013

Beautifully sung, arranged and recorded, ‘The Phoenix Rising’ is contemplative music at its finest. Very highly recommended.

A new recording from the superb young British a cappella choir Stile Antico is always an event. “The Phoenix Rising” (Harmonia Mundi 807572) celebrates both great Tudor church music and the legacy of the Carnegie UK Trust, founded in 1913. The Trust commissioned performing editions of works by William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Tallis, John Tavener, Thomas Morley and others. The works published in “Tudor Church Music” became the core of the Anglican church music performed in the 20th century.The choir sings it with style and purity, and without a conductor, with the understanding that comes from growing up with a body of work. “Phoenix” is a treasure.

A new recording from the superb young British a cappella choir Stile Antico is always an event. “The Phoenix Rising” (Harmonia Mundi 807572) celebrates both great Tudor church music and the legacy of the Carnegie UK Trust, founded in 1913. The Trust commissioned performing editions of works by William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, Thomas Tallis, John Tavener, Thomas Morley and others. The works published in “Tudor Church Music” became the core of the Anglican church music performed in the 20th century.The choir sings it with style and purity, and without a conductor, with the understanding that comes from growing up with a body of work. “Phoenix” is a treasure.

To hear Stile Antico's vocal performances of English Tudor Church music is to hear something old yet somehow right for our ears today... It's music that gives you the chills, for its ancient voices speaking clearly to us today, for the sheer beauty of its note choices and for the gracious transparency of Stile Antico's outstanding musicianship...

If you could have only one choral recording representing this style and time, this should be it...

Stunning. Stunning all around.

Another winner from Stile Antico, this time probing the riches of the Tudor Church Music Project... in sumptuous surround sound and sung with a rarified perfection, is extremely satisfying.

Tudor music thrills anew, thanks to the artistry and musicianship of top British choir.

Stile Antico is on top of its game here. They open with two TCM treasures, Byrd’s Ave verum and Tallis’s Salvator mundi (I), and build a compelling programme around the movements of Byrd’s Mass for five voices. There’s a rare spaciousness about the conductorless vocal ensemble’s singing, aided by the acoustics of St Jude-on-the-Hill in Hampstead Garden Suburb and terrific recorded sound. Taverner’s aptly named O splendor gloriae stands as this sublime album’s crowning jewel, a pristine object for still contemplation. Switch off all mobile devices, shut out distractions and simply be with the experience of listening.

Exquisitely rendered by the Stile Antico consort, the works range chronologically from John Taverner's “O Splendor Gloriae”, in which the Eton Choirbook style is still audible, to Orlando Gibbons' “O Clap Your Hands Together”, where Psalm 47 is brilliantly set in a cascade of repetitions that develops intense hypnotic power.

take a listen to the closing track, O Splendor gloriae (John Taverner) which offers approximately 13 minutes of wall-of-sound pleasure to your ears. Call the CD a masterpiece, it's certainly masterful and more than worthy of musical attention.

"Stile Antico sing Tudor and Jacobean classics...with exemplary tuning and discipline. The more elaborate and spacious the music, the warmer the interpretation"

‘That the performances on this disc are given with the customary Stile Antico level of excellence goes without saying; what pleases most is the commitment and passion with which the ensemble sings works that have become so much part of English choral furniture that the often scarcely warrant a glimmer of interest from even the most devoted of enthusiasts, thus reminding us of the striking beauty of this repertoire.’
October/ November 2013