CD, стоящие на полке рядом : Sacred Music (Master Works)      

The vocal group Tonus Peregrinus, led by Antony Pitts, has maintained an amazingly consistent average of quality through five releases for Naxos. Orlando Gibbons: Hymns and Songs of the Church appears to be its first "miss," and it doesn't do so on the basis of the singing and performances - these are still great - so much as what's inside the case doesn't really represent the name above the title. Gibbons compiled the first musical publication for use in English churches, Hymnes and Songs of the Church, in 1623, the same year the "first folio" of Shakespeare appeared. It is a very simple publication, consisting of 42 hymn melodies set to ground basses and nothing more. One can imagine that this would be a great jumping off point for an ensemble that values creativity in equal measure with historical accuracy, and Pitts and countertenor Alexander L'Estrange do make the most of Gibbons' limited requirements with realizations that go way beyond the standard interpretations of these pieces, indeed, if such a standard exists at all.

However, it's simply too much. The arrangements, while gorgeously beautiful to listen to and emotionally moving to experience, are far too postmodern in style to truly represent what Gibbons was getting at in his Hymnes and Songs of the Church. Had Tonus Peregrinus stated that the work here was "inspired by" the rather plain source material, then potential buyers of the album would have some sense of what is to be found therein. Alas, it is credited to Orlando Gibbons alone, whereas the harmonically exploratory arrangements of Pitts and L'Estrange are clearly couched in the language of our time, rather than Gibbons', in spite of how experimental-sounding some of Gibbons' own authentic sacred choral music may be at times. It is reminiscent of a comment once made by a theatergoer describing a hipped-up, 1980s-era production of Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer; "it was like some people were trying to be cool with an old play."

For the listener unconcerned with the requirements of repertoire and interested in imaginatively scored choral music, there are some things on Hymnes and Songs of the Church that are so meltingly beautiful that it will take your breath away, and you will not want to avoid this disc. Nonetheless, for those looking for a recording of the Gibbons work specifically, this will not fit the bill, as it goes too far outside the boundaries of Gibbons to truly represent him as he stands, at least in this basic and functionally intended repertoire.

All Music Guide