Album Description
The motets of Tomas Luis de Victoria are justly regarded as masterpieces of the late Renaissance. The music on this album covers pieces written for performance between Christmas and Easter.
From the Artist
I receive great pleasure in the release of this album of motets by VVV. It is the culmination of many years work, without financial support, performing concerts in the UK. We have developed an unique approach to the performance of late-Renaissance polyphony. The use of low-voice textures is based on the conceived pitch of the compositions. The addition to voices of instuments (viols, harp and theorbo), and sometimes replacing them, represents some of the 'blessed variety' known to occur in performance practice in Roman churches of the 16th and 17th centuries, where and when these works were first published. Some conservative listeners may find the sound too disimilar from that of the English Choral Tradition that they are familiar with. However, most will find it a refreshing alternative. It is my hope that this recording will rouse a new era of radical innovation in the early-music movement.