Early Music Forum of Scotland News

It is interesting to hear repertoire more familiar in upwardly-transposed renditions by mixed early music ensembles, sung "at pitch" by a full chapel choir. This is undoubtedly how the music would have sounded to its composers, but comparison with the reduced-voice high-pitch equivalents is instructive. The lower pitch leads to a greater warmth, and an increased focus on the middle voices, whereas the Wulstan-ised performances, for the most part up a minor third, largely rely on the incandescence of the stratospheric upper voice parts for effect. Similarly the impact of the dramatic contrast between solo and tutti sections is emphasised in the present performance, using as it does a choir which is twice as big as the standard early music choir. The inner voice parts stand up very well to the resulting scrutiny, but there is also some lovely singing from the boys en masse and the excellent treble soloist in Richard Davey's Stabat Mater. Side by side with familiar repertoire by Richard Davey and John Sheppard we also have the pleasure of some unfamiliar material by Thomas Preston, John Mason and Thomas Appleby, the latter represented by a powerful setting of the Magnificat.

D James Ross