Allegri: Miserere / Palestrina: Stabat Mater

The Choir of King's College, Cambridge, Sir David Willcocks

Allegri:
 Miserere mei, Deus

Palestrina:
 Stabat mater
 Hodie Beata Virgo
 Senex puerum portabat
 Magnificat primi toni
 Litaniae de Beata Virgine Maria, 8vv

"It's doubtful if any recording made by the choir of King's College, Cambridge, in the fertile Willcocks era, will prove more enduring than this celebrated performance of Allegri's Miserere.

Admittedly there are more authentic versions in the catalogue, authentic not only in that they use the original Latin words where Willcocks opts for an English translation, but also in the sense that they search for a style less obviously redolent of choral evensong and the Anglican tradition. At the farthest extreme from King's, other versions strip Allegri's score of its various 18th- and 19th-century accretions – a nice piece of musical archaeology which, ironically, reveals the utter plainness of the Miserere when denied its familiar jewels, and sounds like an imposter when dressed up in even more garish baubles. For many the richly communicative singing of King's remains the ideal, however far removed it may be from the orginal intentions of Allegri. The Miserere is accompanied here by some classic Palestrina performances, which are still as fresh as when they were recorded in 1964. Some tape hiss intrudes, but otherwise the sound is excellent. A fabulous disc."
Gramophone Classical Music Guide - 2010