James O’Donnell and the 30-strong choir of Westminster Abbey have turned their abundant skills to the music of John Taverner (c1490-1545). The Tudor composer was appointed first organist and master of choristers of what would become Christ Church, Oxford. England was still a Catholic country. Taverner, whose shadowy life story has its own dramas, was by instinct a European, influenced by the music of Josquin des Prez and the Franco-Flemish school. He responded to Cardinal Wolsey’s request for Marian music with the motet Mater Christi sanctissima (Most holy mother of Christ), and continued to mix English and continental styles in the magnificent Western Wynde Mass, based on a popular secular text. Two English choral masterpieces, superbly sung.
