| Review by andrewb February 17, 2006 (2 of 3 found this review helpful)
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This first release on SACD from the Tallis Scholars on Gimell is disappointing, the performance seems to be good but the recording is the problem. There are a lot of sibilants in this music and this recording makes sure we hear everyone of them: with emphasis. The bane of many choral recordings is the excessive emphasis given to sibilants, it must be very difficult to get the balance right in this regard because the problem is so common. I found listening to the main work of this disc very difficult because of the distortion accompanying each sibilant. Maybe the microphones were too close, but if that was all then surely the recording engineer would have adjusted this positioning, so the difficulty must be more complex. Apart from this problem the recording seems very clear and the performances good.
I cannot recommend this disc, nor will I disrecommend it, perhaps others with different systems will have less problems with the sibilants. Reducing the volume level helps on my system but is not really a solution.
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