Winchester Cathedral Choir, The Parley Of Instruments & David Hill - Motets By Peter Philips (1993)

Peter Phillips was a keyboardist, organist, and composer who left his native England in his 20s and never returned, spending the majority of his life in Brussels. Technically, he's an English composer, but because of his residence abroad during his most productive years, his music has virtually fallen through the reportorial cracks of performers and record companies. So, we are fortunate to have this survey of some of Phillips's best vocal works, which, according to one modern observer, are part of "the most substantial corpus of Latin choral motets by any English composer with the sole exception of William Byrd." This refers to Phillips's two-volume set of Cantiones sacrae, published in 1612 and 1613. Although most of the pieces are stylistically closer to Palestrina than to Byrd or Tallis, there are occasional touches of English style--and moments of profound brilliance and exceptional beauty, as in the Ave Jesu Christe. -- David Vernier