Every time, I stump people when I ask them to define what “a cappella” means. The response is uniformly “without instruments,” which is NOT the exact meaning. The term literally means “like church,” since back in the day, people worshipped without the accompaniment of instruments.
This album has songs of liturgy from Holy Week, from the pen of Tomas Luis De Victoria (1548-1611), who specialized in polyphony during the Spanish Renaissance. The voices by Helen Ashby-Kate Ashby-Rebecca Hickey/sop, Emma Ashby, Eleanor Harries-Katie Schofield/alto, Ross Buddie-Andrew Griffiths-Thomas Kelly-ten and WillDawes-Thomas Flint-Mattew O’Donovan/bass create gorgeous and reflective harmonies, either in unison as on “Judas Mercator” or with darker male leads during “Plainsong.” Warm female leads are angelic on “Good Friday Responsories”
A dash of Byzantine dept is felt on a cantoral “De Lamentatine Jeremaie Prophetae” while the skies all but open on the gloriously stained glass window reflection of “Motet: O Dominae Jesu Christe.” This music puts the meaning back into “inspirational.”