Classical Music

His Last major work, written in 1603 at the death of the Empress Maria and dedicated to her daughter Margaret, Victoria's six-voice Requiem has always counted as his supreme masterpiece, and it has been recorded at least six times... What distinguishes the Spanish version is the rich bloom of the choral sound in the resonant acoustic at Montserrat. The tempi are steady, the boys' voices are strong and passionate, and the lower voices tend to maintain an accompanying role. Texts are often relegated in favour of the flow of the line, especially at cadences where the final consonants are usually inaudible. Intonation is sometimes less good than is compatible with even the fairly generous vibrato of the singers—particularly in the "Libera me".

So this version makes a striking contrast with the St John's [Decca] recording, where the boys have hard-edged if quiet voices and the men are clear if sometimes rough. The listener who wishes to choose between them would do best to start with the first Kyrie: Montserrat have a far finer sound and an extraordinarily managed slide from one chord to the next; St John's have clearer voices, better intonation and more of the musical details but perhaps less sense of the flow of the whole piece. The recorded sound is less distinct than on many recent records but corresponds more closely to what one is likely to hear half way back in a large cathedral. Some of the main points in Fr Gregori Estrada's useful sleeve-note are rather mangled in the translation—particularly his carefully worded explanation of the splendid slow tempi for the chant sections.

-- Gramophone [10/1978]

The Officium defunctorum by Tom�s Luis de Victoria, published in 1605, is one of the masterworks of the musical Renaissance, which still moves us with it's austerity and expressive power. It was written "in the style of a swansong" for the funeral rites of the composer's patroness, the empress Maria of Austria, sister of Philip II and widow of the emperor Maximilian II. For the first time in a recording, La Grande Chapelle and Schola Antiqua place the work in it's liturgical context, restoring the two original days: the vigil for the dead and the mass which concludes with the rite of absolution. The funeral rites celebrated in Madrid in 1603 are evoked, by means of respecting the original performing forces, the inclusion of the lection, the responsories and the psalms written by Victoria himself, and the use of plainchant taken from sources of the period. This reading brings us closer in a new way to one of the most important dynastic ceremonies of the Spanish Habsburgs of the beginning of the 17th century.

Tenebrae return to the sublime music of Tomás Luis de Victoria on Signum with this recording of his timeless Tenebrae Responsories. The works mix the words of the Gospels with other texts commenting on collective suffering written around the 4th century, and would traditionally have been performed as part of a moving service in which candles are slowly extinguished to mark the progress and suffering of Christ that forms the Passion story.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

In the late 16th century when vocal polyphony was developing into the excesses of the late Italian madrigal and the powerplay of multi-choir writing in Venice, Victoria, in Rome, chose to write his 18 Tenebrae settings with the simplest texture imaginable: four voices with internal sections for just two or three parts. These perfect miniatures force the question: how can so little mean so much?

Victoria’s austere yet profoundly moving setting of the Responsories for the services of Tenebrae (shadows) is one of the great classics of Renaissance music. In this new recording sung by solo voices it is restored to the low pitch and voicing intended by the composer.

These perfect miniatures are interspersed with nine of Christopher Reid’s heart-rending poems from his 2009 collection and Costa Book of the Year winner, ‘A Scattering’, a moving collection on the dying and death of his wife.

The Sixteen and Harry Christophers have long been applauded for their dedication to the works of Victoria, and this CD is a superb example of the composer's depth and the artists' performance. 'Scholar, mystic, priest, singer, organist, and composer - six persons all rolled into one and that is, quite simply, why Victoria is the most outstanding composer of the Renaissance.' (HC) This Holy Week music combines an intensity of expresion with a sombre passionate and mysterious quality often thought of as peculiarly Spanish. Victoria's own intense faith imbues every note, and is expressed in the words of his own dedication of the piece to the Holy Trinity, 'God, most high Trinity, may every soul praise you. For ever reign over those you save through the Mystery of the Cross.'

VICTORIA Sancta Maria succurre miseris. Salve Regina. Super flumina Babylonis. Seniores populi. Vidi speciosam. Q quam gloriosum. Misericordiae Domini. Lux aeterna. Congratulamini mihi. Kyrie • Harry Christophers, dir; The Sixteen • CORO CORDVD 6 (DVD: 60:00)


This hour-long program was produced for BBC together with Spanish and German television to mark the anniversary of the composer’s death. The singing was filmed in the Church of San Antonio de los Alemanes in Madrid, a lavishly ornate Baroque church built by Philip III soon after coming to the throne and before Tomás Luis de Victoria’s death. Simon Russell Beale narrates the life of the composer and Harry Christophers has some comments to add. The video format allows the integration of music, painting (El Greco), architecture, and spirituality into one presentation. St. Teresa of Avila was also born in Victoria’s home town, where he knew her as a boy. She reformed the Carmelite order along with St. John of the Cross, and both contributed immensely to the spirit of the times by their writings in mystical theology. We also see the chapel of the Carmelite convent where Victoria spent the last 25 years of his life as chaplain to the dowager empress Maria, Philip II’s sister, and the chapel of El Escorial, the palace that Philip II built outside Madrid.


The music is a sampling of Victoria’s output, including excerpts from his two masterpieces, the Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae and the Officium Defunctorum . Christophers argues that Victoria is the greatest composer of the Renaissance, a claim that has been made for Palestrina and Lassus, but one that has led him to a fervent interpretation of the composer’s music on six CDs (including the Tenebrae Responsories on Virgin). There are several video features added to the main program. Sometimes the music seems subsidiary to the unfolding story, but the whole is greater than its parts. This disc is a worthy tribute to mark the quatercentenary of a great composer.


FANFARE: J. F. Weber


NTSC, Region 0, 16:9 (Widescreen), Color, English w/ Spanish Sub (Stereo), Not Rated, Run Time: 60 min.

Classical Music

The great Spanish composer and priest, Tomas Luis de Victoria, devoted his life to writing supremely uplifting and intense music throughout the church calendar. The Call of the Beloved includes some of the earliest triple-choir music ever to be published and is a reminder of Victoria's joyous and passionate music, complementing his more austere Requiem and music for Holy Week.

The Norwegian six-member a cappella group, Nordic Voices here presents the extraordinary polyphonic music of Tomas Luis de Victoria, a Spanish composer whose music has continued to move people for more than 400 years, crossing geographical, cultural, and even religious barriers. This surround-sound recording comes ten years after a "warm, consistent and moving" (BBC Music) album of Lamentations, which featured pieces by sixteenth-century composers, including Four Lessons by Victoria. Examples of the composer's exceptional output, characterized by a careful setting of the text and an ability to control texture by a constant grouping and regrouping of different voices, here meet the artistic resourcefulness, versatility, technical precision, and freshness of the young ensemble.

It is these musicians, full of dedication and responsibility for art, that are needed today in the world. This is the kind of stage creativity that unites the creator’s soul with the soul of the recipient in ecstasy, showing the artist’s genius. The words said by Vladimir Fedoseyev to Victoria Yagling illustrate the enormous respect that this composer and cellist has enjoyed in Russia to this day. Although today Yagling is associated mainly as a phenomenal artist and pedagogue, her composing legacy, especially in Russia, is very popular. Registered in the Main Hall of the Witold Lutoslawski National Forum of Music in Wroclaw, the album of the Reger Duo, co-created by outstanding musicians: Krzysztof Karpeta and Michal Rot, includes the most representative works composed for cello and piano by Yagling over almost 40 years.

Victoria Bond is a distinguished force in contemporary music. She is known for her melodic and dramatic flair, and her orchestral works, chamber pieces and operas have been lauded by The New York Times as “powerful, stylistically varied and technically demanding.” This collection of world premiere recordings by Grammy Award-winning ensemble Chicago Pro Musica provides an essential overview of Bond’s multi-faceted inventiveness- from a musical interpretation of tarot cards in Instruments of Revelation, to descriptive and dramatic images of the tragic city of Pompeii in Frescoes and Ash. Leopold Bloom’s Homecoming expresses in music what is left to our imagination in James Joyce’s Ulysses, and the mathematics of Binary turn the digits 0 and 1 into variations on a Brazilian samba.

Born in Russia, Victoria Borisova-Ollas has lived in Sweden since 1993. In the international music press, she has been described as ‘a composer with a sparkling individual voice’ and an ‘orchestrator of the greatest virtuosity’. This is borne out by this well-filled album which features five works from 2003 to 2013, in performances by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (RSPO) with which Borisova-Ollas enjoys a long-standing collaboration. Angelus was composed for the 850th anniversary of the city of Munich and takes the listener on a walk through the city and its many clock towers. Angelus is conducted by Andrey Boreyko, who has championed the music of Borisova-Ollas for many years.