The Tallis Scholars: Spem in alium

Spem in alium is an extraordinary listening experience, a multi-layered tapestry of individual threads that makes for a monumental immersion in sound. With its contrast between overlapping vocal lines and monumental blocks of sound, Tallis’ masterpiece is as impressive and overwhelming now as it must have been when first performed over four and a half centuries ago.

The same might be said for the earlier music of Josquin des Prez, a superstar musician of the Renaissance, lauded for his daring innovation.

The programme is completed by two lesser-known – but no less significant – contemporaries of Josquin from England and Flanders.

This is music of immense intricacy and detail, a vibrantly coloured exploration of the sonorities and expressive potential of crack ecclesiastical choirs, from composers who led European music into a new era. Its shifting perspectives, ingenuity and expressive power resonate down the centuries.