The Tallis Scholars : Reviews
VOCAL ENSEMBLE
Live from London – Christmas, December 2020
“For some 47 years, this distinguished group of singers, led by its founder, Peter Phillips, has given the world a cappella singing at its finest. The ensemble has set a standard so high that a greater level of musical perfection is simply not conceivable”
Linda Holt, *****, Bachtrack
“The fact is that this concert offered some of the most radiant and intelligent singing of the Live from London series; performers at the top of their game gifting us some of the true glories of the polyphonic age.”
Colin Clarke, Seen and Heard International
Josquin: Missa Hercules Dux Ferrarie – Missa D’ung aultre amer – Missa Faysant regretz
“…a superb conclusion to a major achievement on disc, without any equivalent… We can only praise the careful production; the suave vocal scorings, which constantly inform the natural gravity of Josquin’s writing with a unique hedonism of sound; and indeed the scholarship which went into the editing of the manuscripts”
Benedict Hévry, ResMusica
Coming to the end of this absolutely remarkable odyssey, the listener can only be filled with admiration for Phillips’ vision and the enormous flexibility of The Tallis Scholars, who for nearly half a century have maintained their unchanging commitment to vocal and musical excellence.”
Tony Way, *****, Limelight
“Crowning glory to a cycle begun in 1986… These voices find an almost supernatural intensity of line, sonority, energy, and blend.”
Rebecca Tavener, *****, Choir & Organ
“An unmissable programme, sung by artists at the top of their profession: a god-like culmination indeed.”
David Fiala, Diapason (translated)
“A perfect showcase for this genius composer and The Tallis Scholars’ trademark luminosity.”
Record of the Week, Hannah French, BBC Radio 3 Record Review Extra
“glorious singing. Tonal purity, articulation, ensemble spirit: everything here is sheer perfection. Phillips’ unaccompanied voices bring passion and warmth to every note… This is a heavenly album.”
Geoff Brown, *****, The Times
“This reviewer is running out of superlatives for the music itself and for this choir’s performances of it.”
Richard Turbet, Early Music Review
“Peter Phillips directs expressive performances.”
Stephen Pettitt, The Sunday Times
“bringing the sequence to a radiant close” and “Immaculately produced, with scholarly notes and full translations.”
Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk
“This glossily perfect performance pings with relish and crackles with energy. A superb end to a magnificent cycle of recordings.”
Edward Breen, Gramophone Editor’s Choice
“As always with the Tallis Scholars, it’s immaculately sung. All told, a mighty achievement.”
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer
Josquin: Missa Mater Patris – Bauldeweyn: Missa Da pacem
“Glorious music superbly performed and recorded.”
Andrew McGregor, BBC Radio 3
“…listening to The Tallis Scholars’ version is an electrifying, visceral experience.”
Graham Rickson, The Arts Desk
“This is glorious stuff indeed.”
Edward Breen, Gramophone, Editor’s Choice
“precision, clarity and conviction”
Kate Bolton-Porciatti, BBC Music Magazine, 5* performance, 5* recording
“persuasive singing, beautifully recorded”
Nicholas Kenyon, The Guardian / Observer
“this superlative disc … everything about it is the best”
Richard Turbet, Early Music Review
Estella, Spain, September 2019
“The English team immediately impressed the public with its spectacular tone, as bright as it is perfect, with impeccable tuning…
Peter Phillips conducted the concert with his usual vitality, precision and attention to detail… allowing all the pieces of the puzzle to fall into place (trans.)”
Ritmo, September 2019
St. Florian Monastery, Austria, July 2019
“There is a pleasure in music that whets the audience’s appetite: to either follow the complex unfolding of the polyphonic motets, or simply to lose oneself in the sound-world… Conclusion: An all-round perfect concert, full of precision and passion. (Trans.)”
Nachrichten.at, July 2019
US Spring Tour 2019
Portland
“perfect storm of singing… the esteemed English vocal ensemble delivered a brilliant program in all respects: use of the space and of the singers, and choice of literature… The afternoon was a revelation in capturing an audience’s mind.”
Oregon ArtsWatch – Bruce Browne and Daryl Browne, April 2019
Berkeley
“Tallis Scholars Shine in Music Inspired by The Sistine Chapel… The a capella polyphony of the ten Tallis Scholars vocalists was transcendent. one might even say, trance-inducing… Whether you are religious or not, this program of Renaissance polyphony sung by The Tallis Scholars was nothing short of heavenly.”
The Berkeley Daily Planet – James Roy MacBean, April 2019
BBC Prom, August 2011
“Those who stayed on for the late-night Prom by the Tallis Scholars had the benefit of the evening’s most compelling experience…. Inspiring and deeply moving”
The Telegraph, *****, August 2011
“One of the biggest audiences for a late-night prom I’ve ever seen… The 12 singers of the Tallis Scholars understand this musical world as well as anyone can today. They floated the long-limbed lines of the polyphony with unaffected directness, while Phillips shaped them in a perfectly understated way, with the Albert Hall’s resonance for once adding bloom rather than blur to the textures.”
The Guardian, August 2011
“[Victoria Requiem]…the audience sat rapt as Phillips’s team lifted us into heaven. The balance of parts; the expressive ease; the breathtaking beauty of their pianissimos!”
The Arts Desk, August 2011
“This was a concert to treasure….. delivered by expert singers under their totally dedicated and inspiring conductor.”
Classical Source, August 2011
“My most moving experience of this year’s Proms so far. Bar none.”
“It all went to show once again that Peter Phillips and his Scholars have perfected the art of Renaissance sacred music, and that smaller ensembles can take on the Albert Hall and leave us spellbound.”
Bach Track, August 2011
Merton College, April 2011
“This way Philips has of conjuring intensity is fascinating, because it seems to rise out of the music itself as an inner glow. You register the effect of rising emotional heat, but not its cause.”
The Telegraph, April 2011
US Tour, November 2010
“The group no doubt boasts some of the most pure tones that the human voice can offer, and there seemed to be nothing hindering each beautiful voice.”
Sunday Arts, November 2010
“Peter Phillips, who founded the group in 1973, leads with a sure hand, bringing out solo purity and choral richness.”
Concerto.Net, November 2010
The Tallis Scholars Finest Recording, 1980 – 1989 (Released Sept 2010)
“Everything about these performances just seems right.”
“A treasure trove of wonderful music in performances that are consistently outstanding in their quality.”
Music Web International, September 2010
Edinburgh International Festival, August 2010
“The magic of their performances…lay in their adherence to the words, the sentiment of each phrase tempered to match the meaning, and each one immaculate woven and shaped.”
Edinburgh Festivals, August 2010
“The Tallis Scholars have a purity of vocal line that is the envy of many equally well known groups.”
Seen and Heard International, August 2010
Chester Summer Music Festival, July 2010
“WHAT a curtain-raiser for this year’s Chester Summer Music Festival.”
Liverpool Daily News, July 2010
USA Tour March 2010
“Phillips and his group had something in mind beyond curating a musical museum. They wanted to bring beauty to their interpretations, brushing off the dust of history and showing how splendid those antiques can sound.”
Pioneer Press, March 2010
“I could easily believe that the composers themselves never heard this works performed so well except in their own minds.”
Classical Music Guide Forums, March 2010
“The concert was magnificent and the scholars brought down a piece of heaven for our musical adoration.”
Last FM, March 2010
Victoria Lamentations of Jeremiah, released March 2010
“…intense, condensed and directly and darkly expressive.”
4 stars, The Times, March 2010
“Under Peter Phillips the pungency of the text is occasionally sacrificed to the beauty of the sound, but the balance is perfect and the recording (in Merton College chapel), is glorious.”
Nicholas Kenyon, The Observer, March 2010
“… what might be overly sparse and austere choral textures are embedded with a vivid sense of time and place that reveals the music to be a sequence of emotional cliff-hangers.”
4.5 stars, Classic FM Magazine, April 2010
“An outstanding release that celebrates the thirtieth anniversary of Gimell in the most distinguished manner possible.”
Record of the Month, International Record Review, March 2010
“These accounts have a plangent beauty, which is characterised by the lucent sound and faultless intonation that have been the defining strengths of the choir during the last four decades.”
4 stars, BBC Music Magazine, April 2010
USA Tour December 2009
“The Tallis Scholars … founded in 1973 by Peter Phillips, who still leads the group with graceful purpose, have long been celebrated as one of the greatest exponents of Renaissance polyphony. There was no call to question that assessment after Sunday’s concert.”
The Arts Blog
Naples, September 2009
“In a church in Naples, under Caravaggio’s Seven Acts of Mercy alter piece, The Tallis Scholars performed Allegri’s Miserere. It still makes me tingle to think of it.”
Mail Online, November 2009
Spitalfields Festival, June 2009
“Over 36 years, the personnel of Peter Phillips’s Tallis Scholars has necessarily varied: lives change; voices move on, sometimes to solo careers. But the quality of this cherished Renaissance music vocal ensemble hasn’t budged an inch. As soon as this all-English, early Tudor programme settled into the soaring lines of John Taverner’s Leroy Kyrie, bliss arrived. Perfect clarity. A blend finer than any coffee. Radiant and open expression, belying the singers’ appointed dress code: respectful black.”
The Times, June 2009
St George’s Bristol – April 2009
“They are a remarkable group, perfectly matched in tone and unfaltering in their intonation”
The Guardian, April 2009
Josquin: Missa Malheur me bat & Missa Fortuna desperata
“….this is one of the Tallis Scholars’ finest recordings.”
Anna Picard, The Independent, February 2009
BBC Proms – Royal Albert Hall, London
“The Tallis Scholars under conductor Peter Phillips sang these slow-moving, luminous masses with impeccable blend and balance. Did anybody care that the last tube had just gone half way through the “Benedictus”? This is music where time stands still.”
Financial Times, July 2008
BBC Proms – Royal Albert Hall, London
“Not just the choral event of the year but possibly of the decade.”
The Guardian, July 2007