HANDEL'S MESSIAH
"Its sound was bright and focused with each member of the chorus contributing his or her potential,
giving the impression of something greater than actual numbers would suggest."
— Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"...characterized by a seamless blend across the ranges and a marvelous clarity of texture."
— Crosscut
RENAISSANCE POLYPHONY
"... the nearest thing one can imagine to a tapestry in sound, with all the intricate interweaving of pitches,
colors, shading and density. The performances were superb. The audience was enthusiastic."
— Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"So it was as though I'd died and gone to heaven ... to hear the performance by the Tudor Choir under its
director, Doug Fullington ..."
— Seattle Weekly
"The Tudor Choir knows this music intimately. A final highlight came with 'Salve Regina' by William Cornysh,
who died in 1502. What began as flickers of sound when the sopranos wound their way up a scale ended in a relative
blaze of affirmation ..."
— The Oregonian
"The lovely shaping of beginnings and endings, the tenderness of unison chant sung as this was sung, touched
more than the intellect in the listening ear; whether it was the sublimity of sound achieved by the men's voices
alone in 15th-century John Dunstable's Magnificat, or with the added, soaring voices of the sopranos in the contemporary
Robert Fayrfax's Magnificat 'Regale.'"
— Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"There is a lot of fine music to choose from in Seattle, but one simple rule should be a guide: Never miss
this group!"
— Seattle Weekly
"Smooth, well-coordinated and well-blended, the choir (led by Doug Fullington) performed remarkably well, with
both style and polish."
— The Seattle Times
"Everything the Tudor Choir sang was given impeccable musical manners and a thorough sense of preparation."
— Seattle Post-Intelligencer
AMERICAN MUSIC
"The singers raised their voices in lusty, not to say almost raucous, four-square harmonies, and pursued the
sturdy hymn tunes with passionate directness."
— Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"In this folk tradition (over two centuries old), the words are comprehensible, while the voices are unbridled
and free of excessive, word-disfiguring vibrato. In good a cappella ensembles like the Tudor Choir, the fun and
camaraderie are palpable. Shapenote tunes themselves are undiluted Americana: plaintive melodies, sung without
accompaniment, that never leave your ears once you hear them."
— The Stranger
RECORDING REVIEWS
SAVAGE ALTARS
"Savage Altars is itself worth the price of admission, propounding musical ideas, withdrawing them and finally
weaving into a tapestry of sound that is abruptly cut off at its height."
— Anne Midgette, The New York Times, May 7, 2006
"Everything comes together perfectly … in Savage Altars, [Marshall's] 1991 work for chamber choir, electronic
tape, and violin and viola obbligato. Savage Altars alternates rather abruptly between spooky and harrowing sections
of rhythmic choral chanting and drop-dead gorgeous interlocking scalar passages that almost seem to float in suspended
bliss. …The ancient Roman and Latin texts used as source material … are freely intermingled and sung in a pure,
non-vibrato, almost-Medieval choral style. … Overall, a real sense of wonder, timelessness, and stark (okay, "savage")
beauty is achieved in this striking work. …Savage Altars may very well be Ingram Marshall's [masterpiece]."
— Stephen V. Funk, Blog Critics, May 2006
"The work itself unfolds gracefully as a polyphonic tapestry, with cascading voices weaving intricately
alongside sparse instrumental accompaniment (strings solo briefly and taped electronic sounds make distinctive
interjections). Also incorporating the Magnificat hymn and the "Sumer is icumen in" canon (supposedly
the oldest notated polyphonic music in the West), Marshall's work flows through multiple episodes, some elegiac
and serene, others more spirited and rambunctious. …Savage Altars … [is] a superb representation of his
always-compelling work."
— Textura, July 2006 (also, Signal To Noise, issue 43)
"Ingram Marshall's Savage Altars is an important addition to the chamber choir repertoire. With a text from
Tacitus, the Marian Magnificat and others (including two different versions of Sumer is icumen in) this is
a complex conception which repays the closest study. …[I]t is superbly realised in a live performance at
St Mark's Cathedral in Seattle."
— Peter Grahame Woolf, Musical Pointers
"Marshall's music is always complex but accessible, and the performances are very good."
— CD HotList, May 2006
"[The CD Savage Altars is a] collection of chamber works that continues Marshall's unique journey in a spiritual
musical language through visiting medieval, sacred and world sources. The effect of his music acts as a prayer of
offering in a highly personal fashion which, because of it, allows the listener a more universal experience."
— Forced Exposure
"Savage Altars, from a concert performance by the Tudor Choir, derives its title from the Roman historian
Tacitus' Annals Book I, which chronicles the Roman campaigns against the German tribes. They suffered a
devastating defeat by the Cheruscan soldiers in the Teutobugian forest. Six years later, the remains, bleached
out bones, splintered spears and debris, of three Roman Legions, were found, the whole of which was named "barbarae
arae" – savage altars. Elements of the hymn Magnificat, and the canon "Sumer is icumen in" are
also interwoven in melodic and textual contributions. This was written on the eve of the first Gulf War."
— Ingram Marshall
JACOB CLEMENS NON PAPA: REQUIEM & MOTETS
"A superb choir makes a splendid debut with works of ecstatic beauty."
— Gramophone
"I can't say enough about these performances by The Tudor Choir. Known for their sublime discs of American
music (shape-note hymns and Shaker songs), here they tackle repertoire that's been viewed as the eminent domain of
European ensembles. They possess all the hallmarks of fine choral singing – blend, articulation, tonal beauty –
but more importantly, they bring a palpable sense of humanity to every note they sing."
— Early Music America
"To these classic works of Clemens...The Tudor Choir brings an unusually bright
and vibrant sound. Their approach to the idiom is vital and rich, dispelling the idle notion
that "early music" is dull and cerebral. Intonation and phrase sense are superlative;
blend and phrasing are simply great."
— Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians
"Although something of a protege of Peter Phillips, Doug Fullington cultivates a harder-edged sound than that
familiar from The Tallis Scholars. Rhythms and counterpoint are clearer and the mystic glow of the music is to a large
extent allowed to take care of itself – something it does admirably."
— Gramophone
"Few recordings are perfect, but Loft Recordings' Jacob Clemens non
Papa: Requiem & Motets, at least to these ears, seems to be. Even if
one may not wholly agree, chances are excellent that one will be
unlikely to find a disc of Renaissance music as immediately appealing,
yet satisfying in the long term also, as The Tudor Choir's Jacob
Clemens non Papa: Requiem & Motets. It is superb." — All Music Guide
AN AMERICAN CHRISTMAS
"This is our favorite disc this Christmas. Both EB [Elaine Bartlett] and I like it.
We were very pleased to be given this magnificent successor to the choir's The Shapenote
Album (see EMR 49) when we met Doug Fullington in Seattle earlier this year, and it has
been played often in our household. He manages to get a balance between the sing-songy
shape-note style, which can be powerful but which has also become routine, with the
sophisticated sound of a professional choir, though keeping a bit nearer the style than
Psalmody [Peter Holman's group] does to the English equivalents. I like the way they sing
some tunes through to the shape-note syllables as introductions. The disc includes the
best-known Christmas pieces of the repertoire and is supported by an excellent booklet.
This is my Christmas recommendation." — Clifford Bartlett, Early Music Review (UK)
"The vigorous beauty of shape-note singing seems apt for Christmas. Most traditional carols come from Germany and Victorian England, but these New England and Appalachian songs were once as familiar to rural Americans as "Silent Night." I love the barrel-chested tunes such as "Emanuel for Christmas" and "Redemption S.M." for their gusto and open harmonies. The unvarnished sound of Seattle's Tudor Choir is thrilling in this palate cleanser." —David Stabler, The Oregonian
"Seattle's Tudor Choir doesn't just sing English Renaissance music; Doug Fullington's well-trained chorus
also was a well-received subspecialty in Americana, and this new CD draws on that tradition. It's subtitled
"Shapenote Carols from New England and Appalachia," many of them unfamiliar to today's listeners, but
charming all the same with their open intervals and rustic harmonies."
— The Seattle Times
"Fascinating, truly unusual music for modern ears. It is not just for holiday listening."
— The News Tribune
GENTLE WORDS: SHAKER SONGS ARRANGED BY KEVIN SIEGFRIED
"This recording triumphs on every level. If you care about American music or the art of sublime choral
singing, I implore you to buy this recording."
— Fanfare
FAIR WITH HER FIRSTBORN: CAROLS, CHANT, AND POLYPHONY FOR CHRISTMAS
"The selection is refreshingly different, with new compositions containing traces of familiar melodies
but generally steering clear of the routine. The execution is of a high order ... The recording captures a warm
and reverberant space, and the booklet is elegant. This is an unusual and rewarding Christmas program quite
distinct from the run of the mill."
— Fanfare
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