The Tallis Scholars sing Thomas Tallis-1

[jv93099]

Angelic!

[altareggo]

The Tallis Scholars have 10 singers. How do they perform a 40 voice motet?? Do they scour the landscape for the other 30 singers, or do they each take 4 parts or what? What is the minimum number of singers that it takes to perform this thing anyway? Are there any points in the motet where all 40 people are singing?

[tittikoala]

@altareggo i think they recorded each choir and then mixed them together, as The King's Singers did. There are many points where all 40 people are singing: i.e. "praeter in te, Deus Israel", "in tribulationem", "Respice" and the end.

[tittikoala]

@altareggo Ops.. sorry, reading a comment of 1 year ago I learn that the Tallis Scholars recorded Spem in alium with addictional voices.

[beardo373]

@altareggo I sang the piece with a 40-voice choir a number of years ago, and I rarely actually had to sing anything. It definitely seemed like everybody was singing at the end, but through most of the piece, definitely not.

[IRuthLove]

Can anyone tell me how many recordings The Thomas Tallis Scholars have made of Spem in Allium? I love this particular recording and wish to get hold of a copy.

Many thanks!

[alzaman]

Ag chroist an tsiol

[aellamom]

Just sang this in Oakham at the TSSS with a few of the Scholars to boot! How thrilling it was!! I hope to have the opportunity again someday. I surely hope Mr Tallis got to hear his masterpiece.

[1tht2tht3tht]

bit flat in places ; /...lovely sound though :))

[LoveTheNotes]

@1tht2tht3tht pfff the pitch is just perfect tell me where it's flat??!! I have perfect pitch and its just perfect...

[ComposerJMA]

So wonderful.

[Mathildaonline]

I never knew music could be this beautiful

[azindn]

Tallis Scholars have one of the finest interpretations of this piece and I would kill to hear them perform it in a cathedral setting. That said, the "performance installation" of the Spem in Alium by Janet Cardiff is magnificent in it's conception and a brilliant work to sublime music.

[avyanez]

If only we did this at church. It saddens me.

[aussiechickdiana]

Heavenly...

[gtkpaladin]

@aussiechickdiana

Yes indeed, my lady.

[aussiechickdiana]

@gtkpaladin xx

[thebigseahorse]

This is so beautiful, so very moving. Thank you for this.

[dbscarydog3456]

My first introduction to Renaissance polyphony was this piece and this recording, many years ago. A revelation, like Heaven opening up and pouring forth resplendent voices.

[paghob]

Such beauty, such elegance, such musical memory (well its not exactly a straightforward tune). It leaves you hypnotised!!!

[RenaissanceWoman00]

Tallis Scholars are teaching Spem in Alium at their Summer Schools this July, in the UK and Seattle. After 29 years I'll finally get to sing it! Can't wait.

[paulflute]

was there today.. wandered in by accident in the silence between plays..

very lucky moment.. highly recommend

[jackquack]

if you can get to Brighton, England before 30 May 2011 - pay a visit to Janet Cardiff's sound installation using this piece. it's at fabrica (an old regency church), 40 duke street. it is so powerful!!! it seriously blew me away!

[angstrom1951]

Awesome singing! Imaginative polyphony! I have a bachelors degree in voice and music education. Always dreamt of being a member of the Tallis Scholars, to my mind one of the finest if not THE finest early music choirs on the planet!!

[englishrose47]

Heavenly, sublime, breathtaking, amazing, almost 500 years old, and still going strong. Not only was Tallis a musical genius, he managed to stay out of trouble through the reigns of four Tudor monarchs!

[hjfhamer]

just performed it this afternoon and am going to do it again this summer, in a course taught by the Tallis Scholars themselves! Heaven on earth.

[atdanielat]

Going to sing this in a few weeks in a public performance. So if you're in Vienna you may wanna listen to that. It's on the 10th and 11th of April. It's a masterpiece and quite hard to sing but doable.

[molealto]

Have sung not only this piece but a bizarre arrangement of it for 40 countertenors...

[thatdudemush]

Went to a live performance of this in a London church one evening many years ago. It was just magical. Can't remember the name of the choir, although I know some of them sang at St Martins in the Fields and the royal hospital at Chelsea. Celestial sounds.

[2012drummajor]

Wow-I'm not entirely sure how to comment on something this amazing! I could only dream of being a part of a group like that!

[ursor1]

Makes you glad to be alive, magnificent!!!

[SusanneHD]

dallyandally, thank you for making me aware of the King's Singers; version. Yes, it is absolutely gorgeous as well, maybe even better than the Tallis Scholars. This made me think of the comment of a friend who, upon tasting a particularly wonderful wine at my house, said: "I want to die with the taste of this in my mouth." Well, I think I want to die with this music in my ears.

[minissa2009]

Jealous that some commentors have gotten to sing this. I've considered trying to defraud someplace like Make a Wish by saying it was my child's dying wish that I be allowed to sing this with the Tallis Scholars. I have the text and use it as practice sight-reading. Makes for an interesting sing-along. But, yes, also my idea of Heaven is sitting around singing texts like this.

[lampardm]

This incredible work has to be in my top 5 wish list of works to sing. Simply amazing.

Also, this is such a stunning performance. What an experience this would be to experience live.

[SusanneHD]

The most perfect music that ever existed. Period. And the most perfect rendition. Makes you want to weep. Makes you glad you are alive.

[dallyandally]

@SusanneHD : I would also highly recommend the version rendered by the King's Singers. Gorgeous!

[2DogsDanglers]

All 30 or so singers are in the photo ............ is just that the lighting is shit and his flash didnt go off!!!!!!!!!!

[Kilchattan7]

nuff said.. in excelsis

[bmarcob1]

Il mottetto "Spem in alium..." verrà presentato domenica 7 novembre 2010 presso la Chiesa Parrocchiale S.Maria Assunta a Tassullo, Val di Non, Trentino. Alle ore 19.45 presentazione del mottetto, alle ore 20.30, concerto con la partecipazione della Corale Monteverdi della Val di Non, del Coro Eclectica di Bologna, del Coro da Camera di Bologna, dell'Orchestra Blumine e dell'arpista Paola Perrucci. Il mottetto "Spem in alium..." verrà interpretato dai cori uniti.

[secondsoprano2]

@bmarcob1

Spem in Alium, Thomas Tallis' 40 voice motet. Conductor Alice Granum from Denmark. Possibly 1st Rome performance (correct if mistaken), at least within living memory. Saturday 6 November @ 4.30pm. Choirs participating: New Chamber Singers, St. Paul's-within-the-Walls Choir, Coro da Camera Italiano & Ensemble Vocale Thesaurus. 2nd. performance: Sunday 7 November - 6.30 pm @. St. Paul's-within-the-Walls, Via Nazionale/Via Napoli.

[aubreyprosper1994]

Now I have listened. Now I can die happy.

[secondsoprano2]

@aubreyprosper1994

Now I have sung it, I can too!

[magdelanye]

not a big fan of choral music, but this is like a sun-flashing river flowing to merge with the ocean

[MaBu888]

Spem in unum, scientiam in omnia.

[AndreasFilius]

Magnam pacem sentio ex musica spei

[MaBu888]

@AndreasFilius

Magna pax regnat et vivat. Regnat id est commVNicat. :) check my latest crazy vid.

[domburd]

I remember seeing the Tallis Scholars performing this at Sherborne Abbey in Dorset a good few years ago and will never forget the principal sopranos, during the louder sections (e.g. at around the 5:00 minute mark), leaning backwards as if having to sing into a storm of sound and singing at full throttle but with perfect control.

[noorderloos]

over and over again i m overwhelmed by this true perfection

[HaliacetusLeuco]

GWY~+~+~*

[HaliacetusLeuco]

TheJamesalden

1 month ago To someone as gifted as this, it was nothing; nothing NEX+~* to NOTHING~+~+~*

[HaliacetusLeuco]

THE NEX+~* PRESIDEN+~+~*

[TheJamesalden]

To someone as gifted as this, it was nothing; nothing in the sense that when he, or any other composer of this caliber sits down, well...they just sit down and after a time, they begin writing the same as you or I when we sit down to write a memo or a note. We do it without thinking, naturally. It just comes. Well, the same with someone like Thomas Tallis. This is what makes it even more astounding to us. For someone like that, well....it's something similar to just sitting down to write a memo.

[PhilAroundhits]

@TheJamesalden This is his masterpiece. Perhaps he worked a little on it... And he probably thought of it long before he wrote the first note. We'll never know. McCartney dreamed of Yesterday, but he pissed off Richard Lester working on it during the shooting of A hard day's night. Even the most gifted work.

[ann2shoes]

The mind boggles, that somebody could actually compose a work so complicated and wonderful as this.

[deusinad]

For this recording The Tallis Scholars were augmented by 32+ voices to record the work. Looking through the list of singers on the disc, many of the 'additional' voices were very successful singers of the day, or became well-known in later years. For my money, still the best recording to listen to on speakers that conveys the nearest effect of 8 choirs of 5 voices per choir possible.

[1401JSC]

The picture makes me laugh.

11 people, but the motet is sung by 40!

Are they all multitracking?

[Chronosoul1]

beleive me, they're not 40. But yes they look like.

[skilzorz]

It sounds as if some of the intervals are being altered to coincide with a different temperament... maybe? Sublime either way!

[jonjii777]

These voices are truly heavenly.... Polyphonic music with angelic voices sing praises from heaven transport me.

Bless you for this

[thomas6318]

janeym: Good luck with that. Emma Kirkby is an old friend of mine. Just try to sound like yourself; or, more to the point, play the part and forget your own identity.

[janeym]

If you ever get in contact with her I would love her to know that there is a young soprano who appreciates so much how she paved the way for straight tone female singers! (or "pure" sopranos if that is more fitting)

[janeym]

so basically, I'm 17, I'm a classically trained soprano...

AND I WANT TO SOUND JUST LIKE THE SOPRANO AT 3:12

she has the most beautiful voice I have EVER. HEARD.

and Emma Kirkby comes in a close, close second with her Gabrielli recordings =D

[caniphobia]

so good

[syrinx79]

amazing piece of music.. quite a beast to sing, I might add.

[hardimentjake]

I agree, but its mostly the counting isnt it? I had few exposed leads, and got them wrong in every rehearsal.

[syrinx79]

Yes, I'd say if you aren't right on with the counting, it's extremely easy to get lost in the texture. Sometimes I'd just be sitting back enjoying the gorgeous sound, and be like oh crap I just missed my entrance...

[MiCr69p]

Songs like this one take you away from where you are .. As they are from another world ..

Thanks for sharing this!

[MaBu888]

From the internal world(s) I guess...

[saintandrews84]

Spem in Alium"

Spem in alium numquam habui praeter in te

Deus Israel

qui irasceris

et propitius eris

et omnia peccata hominum in tribulatione dimittis

Domine Deus

Creator coeli et terra

respice humilitatem nostram

[dogsbreath101]

joy

[ExMachine]

You are too generous with your wisdom sir.

[sherbetstraw]

lmao

[ExMachine]

Fantastic ventrilosquism. I can't see their mouths moving at all!

It's nicely done. Agreed, it's not baroque (too early).

[musiquedude235]

their mouths are not moving because what you see in the video is a picture of them...

[janeym]

oh, british dry humor

HAHA

[musiquedude235]

oh i see. i didn't quite understand the humor until now.

[DelendaEstCarthago1]

HA HA HA!!! Not to mention the fact that 29 of them are INVISIBLE!

[LJBSasha]

Make that 30 - one of the 11 in that photo is the director (who naturally doesn't sing!)...

[janeym]

ummmmm I wouldn't categorize this as baroque. It is definitely Renaissance polyphony. but anyway that doesn't matter as much as the fact that this piece is magnificent!

[LeviDenham]

Magnificent pitch and - to my taste, at least - phrasing.

I'll add this to my list of simple joys that make life worth living :)