99 – Clarifica me pater I
Thomas Tallis
Neutral Spinet Performance
Organ - Grand Jeux
Of all the pieces in The Mulliner Book, the three Clarifica me paters by Thomas Tallis are perhaps the greatest and best known. This interpretation on the organ was once again inspired by the French Grand Jeux registration scheme. This registrational scheme adds an enormous sense of grandeur to this piece, which is not found in the contrasting recording on the spinet. The use of this registrational scheme, along with notes inégales, effectively transports this work out of the Tudor period and right to the heart of the French Baroque period. It is easy to imagine such a work being performed during a lavish liturgy in the chapel of the Palace of Versailles. To my ear, it sounds completely convincing.
Spinet - slow and expressive
In contrast to the organ recording, this recording on the spinet represents the complete opposite type of affect. It is gentle and introspective – two affects which the spinet is exceptionally good at capturing. These effects are enhanced by the use of simple ornamentation and the generous chord spreading. Likewise, the drawing out of suspensions and false relations heightens the emotional intensity explored in this recording. This recording is, in my opinion, another triumph of this project.