Phillips 66

Double album of orchestral and acoustic portraits from former Genesis guitarist Anthony Phillips and composer & arranger Andrew Skeet. Features singers Lucy Crowe and Belinda Sykes, and guitarist John Parricelli, one of the key figures on the British Jazz scene.

The Missa Corona spinea is a kind of treble concerto, packed with mind-blowing sonorities. If ever there was music to exemplify Shakespeare's 'Music of the Spheres', it is here, and especially in the two ecstatic treble gimells. The first performance, probably in front of Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey, must have been an astonishing occasion.

Tallis Scholars are among the world's preeminent choral ensembles. Cultivating a distinctive vocal sound backed by impeccable scholarship, the group has helped raise the general level of interest in Renaissance choral music in Britain and beyond through a large catalog of recordings and numerous international tours.

The popular 15th-century tune L'homme armé became the basis of at least 31 Masses over two centuries. Josquin wrote two Mass settings using the melody as a cantus firmus (sung in long note-values in one voice, usually the tenor). Missa L'homme armé super voces musicales begins the tune a tone higher in each succeeding movement; its texture is dense, with the four voices' ranges constantly overlapping. Missa L'homme armé sexti toni is more transparent, with the four voices' ranges spaced widely and sections for reduced voices numerous; its extraordinary final Agnus Dei à 6 plays two paired canons in the four upper parts against the cantus firmus in the lower voices–one singing it forwards, one backwards. The magical effect is often compared to the music of Philip Glass.

The popular 15th-century tune L'homme armé became the basis of at least 31 Masses over two centuries. Josquin wrote two Mass settings using the melody as a cantus firmus (sung in long note-values in one voice, usually the tenor). Missa L'homme armé super voces musicales begins the tune a tone higher in each succeeding movement; its texture is dense, with the four voices' ranges constantly overlapping. Missa L'homme armé sexti toni is more transparent, with the four voices' ranges spaced widely and sections for reduced voices numerous; its extraordinary final Agnus Dei à 6 plays two paired canons in the four upper parts against the cantus firmus in the lower voices–one singing it forwards, one backwards. The magical effect is often compared to the music of Philip Glass.

Peter Phillips has here deliberately paired two sharply contrasted parody Masses … the former … is marvellously bright and open and is given a correspondingly outgoing performance, while the latter, inflected with chromaticism and melodic intervals that constantly fall back on themselves, is darker-hued and more plaintive, a mood well captured here in the intensity of the singing. The recording, made in the Church of St Peter and St Paul, Salle, Norfolk is well handled and adds powerfully to these flexible, expressive and beautiful readings.

Renaissance composers frequently based sacred works on the melodies of secular songs, which were typically placed in the tenor part as a cantus firmus. The mixing of such elements, as in Josquin's Missa Di dadi and the Missa Une mousse de Biscaye, which were based respectively on the chansons N'aray je jamais mieulx and Une mousse de Biscaye, was common practice in the 15th century. However, Josquin also used images of dice in the tenor part of the Missa Di dadi, which have been interpreted as symbols representing time ratios, indicating the length of notes relative to the other three voices.

Charlie Ventura & Flip Phillips - The Complete Verve/Clef Studio Sessions (1998) {6CD Box Set Mosaic MD6-182 rec 1947-1957}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.44 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 978 Mb
Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 26 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1947-57, 1998 Verve / Clef / Mosaic Records / PolyGram | MD6-182
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Mainstream Jazz / Saxophone

Although they were never major influences, both Flip Phillips and Charlie Ventura had their moments of fame and were entertaining and hard-swinging tenor saxophonists. This 1998 limited-edition six-CD box set from Mosaic is typically wondrous with quite a few little-heard gems included among the 116 selections (five previously unreleased, three of which are alternate takes). The first two CDs feature Charlie Ventura during 1951-1954, right after his "Bop for the People" band broke up.