Pepusch / Hendrick,Claraphilippa Hyde - Johann Christoph Pepusch: Venus & Adonis - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Petruta Kupper - V4 Danses Du Monde [COMPACT DISCS] date 10/01/2011

The Gentlemen of HM Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace and their director Carl Jackson make their Resonus Classics debut with this album of works for lower voices by Thomas Tallis - himself a Gentleman of the Tudor Chapel Royal serving under four monarchs. Recorded in the impressive surroundings of the Chapel Royal where the choir are resident, this first with the ensemble presents works for four and seven voices including a reconstruction of Tallis's Missa Puer natus est nobis based on chant for Christmas Day, and the sumptuous Suscipe quaeso Domine. The Gentlemen of HM Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace sing services throughout the year in the palace's splendid Chapel Royal, whose ceiling was installed by Henry VIII in the 1530s. There they are joined by up to eighteen boy choristers, who are drawn from schools nearby and led by Carl Jackson, Director of Music. Just as in the sixteenth century, the choir's personnel is adapted dynamically to the occasion and the demands of the repertory. In ordinary times, there are six Gentlemen and for special occasions the ensemble can expand to as many as fourteen singers.

The Seattle-based trio Dude York-Peter Richards on guitar and vocals, Claire England on bass and vocals, and Andrew Hall on drums-is announcing itself with an album that couches it's themes of anxiety and eroding mental health in rock tracks that amp up the sweetly melodic crunch of power pop with massive distortion and bashed-to-heck drums. Sincerely is a loud, sweaty rebuke to those moments in life when it seems like nothing is working, a testament to the power of friendship, staring problems directly in the face, and finding solace in art. Longtime Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill producer John Goodmanson and The Blood Brothers' Cody Votolato helped Dude York craft a more straightforward draft of Sincerely, one based on the energy of their live show but without any superfluous flourishes. The band's thoughtful approach to putting together Sincerely's songs echoes the album's overarching themes of almost-punishing inward focus.