John Taverner: Imperatrix inferni
John Taverner (d. 1545) is, arguably, the most famous of all early Tudor composers, and one who had a rather colourful musical and political career. His music represents the final flowering of late medieval English polyphony before the onslaught of the mid 16th-century Reformation. Much of the music on this recording centres around Taverner's earlier career, including the three surviving large-scale Votive Antiphons. Included, too, is his sumptuous six-part Quemadmodum, which stylistically foreshadows true 'Renaissance' composition in England.
1. Quemadmodum
2. Audivi vocem
3. Ave Dei patris filia
4. Dum transisset sabbatum
5. Mater Christi
6. Gaude plurimum
7. [Hodie nobis celorum rex ...] Gloria in excelsis Deo
8. O splendor glorie
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