The Liberation Of The Gothic – Graindelavoix

Choir & Organ (Mar, 2019)
The untamed interpretational attitudes of Graindelavoix may startle, but I admire their daring re-imaginings of performance practice for late medieval English polyphony in The Liberation of the Gothic. If you eschew portamento, improvised ornamentation, dramatic tempo shifts, and characterful voices delivering individualised lines in this repertoire, look away now. Alongside two Marian motets by Browne from The Eton Choirbook shines a rarity – Missa Ave Maria by Thomas Ashwell. Love it or loathe it, Graindelevoix is attention-grabbing, thrilling and spicily sonorous. If they rasp and tickle the ear like the vocal equivalent of three-day stubble, the Tallis Scholars enter impeccably groomed with Josquin Masses – Gaudeamus & L’ami Baudichon. Intense purity …