Queen Mary’s Big Belly – Gallicantus

   in Early Music Today (Jun, 2017)
The excitement, relief and eventual disappointment generated by the Bishop of London’s premature announcement in 1555 that Mary and Philip were going to have a baby is reflected in the sumptuous music on this new Signum CD performed with supreme artistry by vocal group Gallicantus. 10 singers are featured, and though no more than seven sing at any one time, their tone is universally vibrato-free but never cold.

Most items are for male voices, but the four show off the beauty of Zoe Brookshaw’s laser-beam soprano, holding her own on lines once delivered by 20 boys. She has clarion power in Lassus’ Te spectant Reginalde, an understandably little-known gem for Cardinal …