Gabriel / Smith, Andrew Jackson: NYP – Times Go By Turns

   in Early Music Today (Dec, 2013)
Three settings of the mass from fifteenth-century England interspersed with two modern motets and a Kyrie make for a superb programme from New York Polyphony. The older works offer pertinent snapshots of the changing religious climate during the Tudor ascent, while newer works reflect on the continuing influence of Renaissance music.

The ensemble is at its best in the new music, which they sing with a stylish flair, and the more homophonic passages of Tallis, which they unfailingly imbue with direction and purpose. In the Byrd, however, the sound can sometimes get a little overwhelmed by its own beauty which, in turn, has a tendency to eclipse the polyphonic momentum. This …