Tuesday 25 October 2011

St Mary's Choir Sings Byrd, Tallis in Rome

There was a veritable feast of polyphony in Rome recently when a cathedral choir from the Antipodes paid a visit and sang for the Pope (see previous posts below). 

In the video below the Choir of St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney, sings Byrd's motet Civitas Sancti Tui (see from 0:54), and I'll wager that few choirs of any sort can sing it quite so well.
Civitas sancti tui facta est deserta. Sion deserta facta est. Jerusalem desolata est.
The city of thy sanctuary is become a desert. Sion is made a desert. Jerusalem is desolate.
ISAIAS 64:10
 

For a good comparison, see this performance of the same piece by the celebrated Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge - technically brilliant but perhaps lacking in something?