John Sheppard - Cantate Mass: The Sixteen
Two discs and only 4 of 20 tracks are the Cantate mass - there's also a good range of motets including many of Sheppard's best known pieces, such as the Christmas motet Verbum caro factus est and the beautiful Libera nos. If you need convincing of Sheppard's genius, just listen to the Amen of Jesu salvator saeculi, redemptis - taken individually some of the lines sound positively 20th century in their modernity, and in combination it takes your breath away - it's hard not to say 'he can't do that!' - but he does. Perhaps the only criticism is that the Sixteen underplay the clashes so they aren't quite as shocking as they could be. Even so, probably the best introduction to Sheppard now on the market.
CD and MP3s of Church Music
If you are new to church music, try our hot CD at the bottom of the page.
Alternatively, consider one of the collection CDs to get a flavour for different composers. One of the best-known pieces ever is Allegri's haunting Miserere. You might also like to try a CD of Byrd's 3 masses for a collection of some of the most perfect music ever written.
Not sure what it's all about? Listen to a couple of clips to get a feel for this remarkable music.
Real Audio
From the excellent Atlanta Sacred Chorale - a snippet of Tallis' If ye love me
From the Nebraska Wesleyan University Choir - Howell's A Spotless rose
MP3
From the Chapel Choir of Royal Holloway College - a small part of Byrd's Sing Joyfully
Amazon now has an excellent MP3 download store, where many of these tracks can be
downloaded without complicated digital rights management. In the UK visit the UK download shop
You can jump straight from the CD menu at the top of any page to the following types of CD:
- By composer
- By performer
- Christmas CDs
- Collections - a good starting point if you don’t have a particular composer in mind
- Hymn CDs - these are with singing (see the Hymn CD site for accompaniments)
- Setting CDs - Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis.
- Wedding CDs