About this Artist

• Biography

Editorial Reviews

Allegri's "Miserere" is most famous as the piece, which, by papal decree, could be performed only in the Sistine Chapel, but which the 14-year-old Mozart transcribed from memory after hearing it, according to his father. Peter Philips, the director of the mixed ensemble the Tallis Scholars, wrote in the program notes that the "Miserere" was performed in the Sistine Chapel with extensive ornamentation, which, in the years since it became broadly available, has become standard performance practice. The Tallis Scholars perform two versions, one with the standard ornamentation, and a second, even more elaborately ornamented version. Given the simplicity and relative austerity of Allegri's original, and the amount of repeated material, the ornamentation provides the variety that gives the piece much of its interest. The performance by a mixed choir is not historically authentic, but the Tallis Scholars' rounded and burnished sound is gorgeous, and there's no sense demanding that every performance of Renaissance choral music conform to its original practices, especially since the tradition of castrati has mercifully passed. The CD also includes Palestrina's "Stabat Mater, Tu es Petrus," and his magisterial "Missa Papae Marcelli." The performers maintain the same high level of precision, warmth, energy, and purity in each of the pieces. Gimell's sound is resonant and deep, without obscuring the clarity of the performances. Stephen Eddins, All Music Guide

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