A reflective performance throughout.
Gramophone on Mendelssohn
I am especially impressed with the choir’s ability to adapt its delivery to the specific style of the music performed… Marlow has clearly taken great pains to project the expressive content of the motets with a careful shaping of dynamic gestures and articulation though there are no indications for these aspects of performance in the original sources. Sometimes the lines are delivered with great smoothness, and sometimes there is an energetic marking of the rhythms… Marlow never allows Palestrina to become perfunctory or bland, and this is a noteworthy achievement in a programme of 25 motets that were never intended to be heard at one setting.
American Record Guide
The beauty of the man’s music and his sheer inventive genius are what you’ll remember after listening to this album… the overall results are hard to resist.
Classic FM Magazine
Taken overall these are unfailingly sympathetic performances of music which is designed to serve a purpose rather than be listened to for its own sake. Coupled with Chandos’s warm recording and excellent booklet notes, this is a very worthwhile release indeed.
International Record Review
…this mixed choir of 30 voices is persuasive and confident and demonstrates clearly the variety and ingenuity of Palestrina’s compositional technique.
BBC Music Magazine
…natural territory for the Trinity College singers.
International Record Review on Duruflé.
Reviews from previous releases:
The performances are robust yet sensitive… and the recorded sound is sumptuous. This is a triumph for Marlow and his Trinity College Choir, for Chandos, and, above all, for Mendelssohn’s reputation as an inventive and deeply rewarding composer of sacred choral pieces.
International Record Review on Mendelssohn
Though the choir numbers 27, the singing is light and flexible, capable of a wide dynamic range. The wider availability of this fine disc is welcome. I wonder if Chaconne will complete the set?
Fanfare