Your guide to classical music online

Acoustic Beauty, Polyphonic Purity From Spain

David Vernier

Artistic Quality:

Sound Quality:

You spend a lot of time with choirs—singing in them, conducting them, listening to them—and you gain a profound respect for what it takes to develop and project the kind of ensemble sound—”acoustic beauty”—as quoted in the liner notes, that we hear on the first track and throughout this wonderful program of 16th-century polyphony from El León de Oro, a 33-voice choir from Asturias, Spain. Then there’s the “polyphonic purity”, another of the choir’s goals in its 20-plus years, all along striving and searching for and experiencing the communal challenges and rewards unique to ensemble singing. Clearly this choir gets it, and has found it, the essence of choral singing, and is able to communicate its discoveries to its audience.

I had not heard this group prior to this recording, and I have to say that I was drawn to it by the presence of Peter Phillips, founder and director of the Tallis Scholars, who is this choir’s “Honorary Director”. El León de Oro is in every respect worthy of inclusion among the world’s finest interpreters of this repertoire—which here includes more familiar works by Gombert and Lassus (Media vita), Victoria (Magnificat primi toni), and Palestrina (Laudate pueri), along with such obscure gems as the astonishing work for double choir by Dominique Phinot that opens the program.

The recorded sound, from Iglesia de Santiago el Mayor, Sariego, Asturias, is a bit “roomy”, but you quickly get used to it, and it doesn’t dampen the effect of such performances as the lusciously rich, vibrant, exquisitely tuned “Cervicibus minabamur”, a movement from Phinot’s Lamentations sung by male voices that’s one of the disc’s many highlights. Without question, this program honors and achieves one of the tenets of all great performances: leave them wanting more.

« Back to Search Results


Recording Details:

Album Title: Amarae Morti

DOMINIQUE PHINOT: Incipit oratio Jeremiae prophetae
ORLANDE DE LASSUS: Media vita; Lamentatio tertia, primi dici; Regina caeli
NICOLAS GOMBERT: Media vita
MANUEL CARDOSO: Lamentatio Feria quinta in Coena Domini--Lectio II
TOMÁS LUIS DE VICTORIA: Regina caeli; Magnificat primi toni
CRISTÓBAL DE MORALES: Regina caeli
GIOVANNI DA PALESTRINA: Laudate pueri

  • Record Label: Hyperion - 68279
  • Medium: CD

Search Music Reviews

Search Sponsor

  • Insider Reviews only
  • Click here for Search Tips

Visit Our Merchandise Store

Visit Store
  • Ideally Cast Met Revival of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette
    Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center, NY; March 19, 2024—The Met has revived Bartlett Sher’s 1967 production of Gounod’s R&J hot on the heels of its
  • An Ozawa Story, November, 1969
    Much has justifiably been written regarding Seiji Ozawa’s extraordinary abilities and achievements as a conductor, and similarly about his generosity, graciousness, and sense of humor
  • Arvo Pärt’s Passio At St. John The Divine
    Cathedral of St John the Divine, New York, NY; January 26, 2024—When one thinks of musical settings of Christ’s Passion, one normally thinks of the