Requiem Aeternam - Music for All Saints and All Souls

Reviews

The Organ

Independent record producers Boreas Music, based in York, have come up trumps with a fine recording of choral music by Thomas Luis de Victoria.

The recording opens with the Motet O quam gloriosum followed by the mass of the same name.  They add the hymn Christe redemptor omnium to end this section before concluding with the mighty Requiem Aeternam, written for the funeral of Victoria’s patron the Dowager Empress Maria of Spain in 1603.

The Ebor Singers were founded in 1995 and is a group made up of early music vocal specialists from the University of York, capitalising on the already great reputation that the city has in this sphere of music.  Indeed, the quality, range of expression and mood of the singing is first rate, and can compete with any of the Oxbridge and London professional early music choirs.  Paul Gameson is to be admired for the way he has persuaded The Ebor Singers to produce such a close-knit sound.  This allows the resonant harmonic flow to despatch a greater depth of meaning, while the delicious dissonances used to highlight certain textual points, combine to produce a homogenous and convincing sound that grows organically from this finely balanced choir.  I look forward to hearing more from The Ebor Singers in the future and I recommend this recording to you whole-heartedly.
David Alker

Choir Schools Today

This recording demonstrates perfectly the value of having the right combination of singers to produce a blended choral sound.  Each voice in the ensemble seamlessly merges into the next, contributing to the texture without pertruding.  The sound is energetic and youthful which results in a fresh musical product rare in such groups.  The tone is authentically even, without being bland.

The enjoyment with which the singers perform this work comes across clearly; perhaps this is unsurprising given its sublime beauty, which this recording will go a long way to making more widely known.

Church Music Quarterly
(recommended release)

The Ebor Singers give poised and polished performances that show both a love of the music and an understanding of its light and shade.
Christopher Maxim

York Evening Press
4 stars

Anyone who has heard The Ebor Singers in concert will be fully aware of their prowess.  Their founder-conductor, Paul Gameson, has moulded a tight-knit ensemble, while also finding a distinctive voice in York's already crowded choral scene.  Victoria, Spain's leading Renaissance composer, is excellently represented here.  The Missa O Quam Gloriosum is preceded by a motet on which it is based, the latter taken unconventionally fast.  Yet this brings benefits in vitality and rhhythmic veve, which spill into the mass itself.  The incomparable Requiem, representing the Iberian Renaissance in full flower, sounds sumptuous in the welcoming acoustic of St Chad's, York.  But Gameson is not afraid to inject drama, for example the Offertory, rightly keeping the mood optimistic, never gloomy.  A triumphant achievement, too, for York's new label, Boreas.
Martin Dreyer

Listen to Requiem Aeternam Listen to Requiem Aeternam. Track listing and disk information is also available. [Listen]

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