An awfully moving offering, Chuck - And an interesting lecture, smvanrode. Many thanks. I think that the cleanest, most pure in tone, diction, and blend that I have heard is that by the choir of Clare College, Cambridge, under the direction of Rudolph Neubok. But there are so many outstanding offerings that it is really a vain effort to choose just one.
Currently I am singing the piece, comparing scores, version, reading on its history etc etc. What I always wonder... it's an example of a very widely used techniques: fauxbourdon or falsobordone. I've also scanned a lot of falsobordone collections (Lassus and Victoria for example) but I never came across such an elaborate falsobordone setting. Is Allegri's Miserere such a singular, outstanding piece or do you know any falsobordone which comes close to it?
(One notable mention is maybe Byrd's Magnificat peregrini toni although it is not original. I very much love the music. The discussion page says it originates from Byrd's verse anthem 'Behold O God the Sad and Heavy Case' but I could not verify that in the Byrd Edition.)
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