Here's an album that blew me away when I first came across it. I'd never heard a sound like it, and its rightness confirmed the insight and thinking behind it. Putting complex polyphony in its proper chant context brought the whole thing to organic, thrilling life. Happy days!

Otd in 1603 Vivanco took a test at Salamanca Uni in front of a grim panel of judges. ('Salamanca's Got Talent'). Result: he's the new Prof of Music! In this Magnificat he shows he's bright by having 3 simultaneous canons in the last verse. What a show-off! buff.ly/4jOS7e0

One of our basses, Stuart is a lay vicar in the choir of @wabbey, with a healthy freelance career of consort and solo work across the UK. When not singing, Stuart is usually found riding his bike around London (it's safer than you'd think), reading the @LRB, or following @LFC

Today is St Valentine's Day, so here's one of Vivanco's 'Lurve' motets. (A genre I've just made up). The text is from the Song of Songs: Come, my love, let us go into the field & see if the vines flourish. There will I give thee my breasts." Cripes...! 🫢 hyperion.lnk.to/cda68257_17

In 2002 Michael Noone discovered many unknown Morales works in the Toledo Cathedral archive & many are recorded here. A beautiful album (just listen to the tuning of the 1st intonation) & it led directly to our Morales series. One day I might tell you how. open.spotify.com/album/1G3Ze…

Eamonn Dougan (Associate Conductor of The Sixteen, among other things) is directing the Morales series alongside Robert Hollingworth. So far he's recorded vol. 2 (Requiem for 5 voices, out soon!) and will be recording vol. 4 (Missae Ave Maria & Si bona suscepimus) this Spring.

In his notes for our Ribera album, Bruno Turner commented on the 'sturdy grandeur' of the motet Conserva me, Domine. Listening again now, I think we and our conductor David Skinner just went for it. Let's blow away those cobwebs! hyperion.lnk.to/cda68141_14

Our 2nd album, conducted by @ifagiolini, featured the music of Victoria's old school chum, Sebastián de Vivanco. It was great fun to record, a gorgeous programme, and @MusicMagazine praised 'a well-tuned ensemble with particularly strong bass singers’. hyperion-streaming.co.uk/rel…

This Sunday is the Feast of Candlemas, when Jesus, Mary & Joseph come to the Temple 40 days after Jesus' birth. Simeon meets them & prophesies 'Lord, now let your servant depart in peace'. Esquivel's setting of this text is simple, chordal and beautiful. hyperion.lnk.to/cda68326_14

DP in Spain 2019 with @ifagioloni, giving a concert at Ávila Cathedral. The pic is from then and shows Steve Lloyd (L) and @MarkDourish (R). Victoria was a chorister there in the 1550s/60s and those are the choir stalls he knew. Are these singers sitting where Victoria sat...?!

When David Skinner (of Alamire) first conducted us he commented on our "commitment, intelligence, musicality, and sheer power." He said he wanted to record an album with us and then Bruno Turner appeared with scores by Ribera. And our first album was born. hyperion-streaming.co.uk/rel…

Graham Kirk is one of our baritones and lives in London. He was a choral scholar @JesusCollegeCam and @York_Minster, and is a member of the professional choir @SMBSLondon. He works as a corporate lawyer, specialising in international mergers and acquisitions.

We wouldn't be where we are now without the support we've had from the publisher Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica which promotes the study of Spain’s presence and influence in Europe in the Habsburg period & promotes research on Spanish art & culture in its European context.🥰

In the parlance of our times, here's a bangin' choon for the start of 2025. You have to wonder: if this was the antiphon, just how Wagnerian was the Magnificat it was meant to introduce? buff.ly/3Phkpj1

Listening today to 2 top recordings of Victoria's iconic Requiem. @wcchoir are super passionate, and I remember @GabrieliCandP's album as an ear-opening intro to the sounds of Victoria's time - a major influence in the formation of @dpchoir. Both are true to Victoria's spirit!

In 1535 Morales joined the Papal Choir on the same day that the Pope commissioned Michelangelo to paint The Last Judgement, so Morales had a ringside seat to watch the masterpiece taking shape. Incredible to think of the two men passing each other in a Vatican corridor!