White: Sacred Polyphony

White: Tudor Church Music
The Tallis Scholars - Peter Phillips
Gimell 030
Gimell 454 930

Contents:

  1. Magnificat (à 6)
  2. Portio mea (à 5)
  3. Regina caeli (à 5)
  4. Christe qui lux es, III (à 5)
  5. Christe qui lux es, IV (à 5)
  6. Exaudiat te Dominus (à 7)
  7. Lamentations of Jeremiah (à 5)

Performers: Deborah Roberts, Ruth Holton, Sally Dunkley, Ghislaine Morgan, Tessa Bonner, Rachel Platt, Caroline Trevor, Robert Harre-Jones, Michael Lees, Ashley Stafford, Charles Daniels, Rufus Müller, Tom Phillips, Robert Johnston, Paul Agnew, Simon Davies, Richard Edgar-Wilson, Julian Walker, Francis Steele, Robert Evans, Donald Greig.

Playing time: 68'

Release date: April 1995

Robert White (c.1538-1574) was one of the primary composers of the generation between Tallis & Byrd (along with Parsons & Mundy). In White's case, it was his short life (death due to plague) which apparently caused him not to reach the highest positions at the English court. However, his music is astonishly rich in detail, combining the older and modern styles in complete harmony. In my opinion (as well as that of a few musicologists), White was the most interesting English choral composer of the period, and deserves to be much better known.

Other recordings devoted entirely to White:

Sacred Music by Robert White
Hymns, Psalms & Lamentations
Gallicantus - Gabriel Crouch
Signum 134
White: The Greatest Glory of our Muses
Henry's Eight
Meridian 84313
White: Sacred Music for Choir
Voces Sacrae - Judy Martin
Proud Sound 143

Other recordings featuring White's Lamentations:

Tears & Lamentations
Whyte / Fayrfax Manuscript / Henry VIII
Pro Cantione Antiqua - Edgar Fleet & Mark Brown
AS&V Quicksilva 6151
Lamentations
White / Tallis / Palestrina / Lassus
Oxford Camerata - Jeremy Summerly
Naxos 8.550572

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Todd M. McComb