Tallis Top of the Pops !

The Tallis Scholars' recording of Thomas Tallis's magnificent Spem in alium, for 40 unaccompanied voices, has today reached Number 1 on the UK's Official Classical Singles Chart, ending a 3 week run at the top of the chart for Luciano Pavarotti.

According to The Official Charts Company's sales data, the past two years have seen a surge in individual classical track download sales in the UK - up 46% in 2011 on 2010 (from 834,000 to 1.2 million). This trend has continued in 2012, and in the first quarter of this year, some 284,000 classical downloads were sold, a 34% increase on the 212,000 sold in the first three months of 2011.

The Official Charts Company's managing director, Martin Talbot, said: "It's fantastic to see Peter Phillips and The Tallis Scholars enjoying chart success off the back of the 50 Shades Of Grey publishing phenomenon, coming just months after the Military Wives became the first choir to top
the Official Singles Chart. It shows the changing ways in which classical fans are buying their music - track by track, as well as album by album."  No problem about changing the way classical music is bought. But OTOH I'm really scared that someone in his position should think Military Wives is the way ahead for classical music. Long live the Tallis Scholars!

Battle for the soul of classical music

Epic Battle on the Classical Music Charts!  On Monday, the new chart comes out. Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman are challenged for top spot on the classical Hit Parade by the Tallis Scholars Spem in alium. The Classical Charts matter, because those who don't listen to a lot of classical music pay attention when it's marketed like pop. So do your bit for "real" classical music by downloading the Tallis Scholars Spem in alium from iTunes. Doesn't matter if you have the original recording from the early days of CD. Now you can have a handy version for your mobile and other apps. Join the digital revolution! Play Tallis on your headphones and drive hoodies mad. "What's that, dude?" You never know, they could convert.

It's pointless to knock Bocelli, Katherine Jenkins, Alfie Boe, Brightman, Garrett etc because they make thousands of people happy. They give people who otherwise would not listen to classical at all an alternative to pop. Why are people so threatened by anyone different to themselves? What does it prove?  No-one is forced to listen. Throughout history, there always has been a mass market for crossover of many kinds. It's nothing new.

Better to offer "real" classical music, in the faith that the downtrodden masses can choose for themselves. They might start with Spem in Alium, and go onto other things. No doubt, many who came to Puccini from Nessun Dorma have expanded their listening choices. This is the market that goes for Hildegard of Bingen and Gorecki's Third. Taste goes both ways, too. Many years ago, a taxi driver asking what I do, scolded me for not liking Tavener's The Protecting Veil, his favourite song of all time. So I listened again but it still didn't grab me. But we both had a choice.

At last, the Tallis Scholars are entering the classical Hit Parade, and getting the attention they deserve. So promote The Tallis Scholars by getting Spem in alium on iTunes, Spotify etc. so they top the charts and capture the imagination of the public. Says a Tallis Scholars source: "This week's battle  between The Tallis Scholars, the pre-eminent Specialists in Renaissance Choral Music, and two of the 21st Century's leading crooners has re-kindled the debate on what truly is great Classical music."

Porn shoots Tallis up the charts

Dead 500 years, Thomas Tallis tops the charts after his tune appears in porn novel. I don't know how Spem in alium gets into bestseller 50 Sades (freudian slip) of Grey and I'm not sure that I want to know. 

 "Written during the reign of the first Queen Elizabeth it features 40 individual voices singing in Latin that combine to a thrilling climax for the words "respice humilitatem nostram" (be mindful of our humiliation)" says Peter Phillips, leader of the Tallis Scholars. Since the novel is about S&M, maybe this isn't quite the "humility" Tallis would have meant.

But so what, as long as people are buying and listening who might never have come to Renaissance polyphony any other way. This could make rockstars of the Tallis Scholars, founded in Oxford nearly 40 years ago. Phillips adds "Please buy The Tallis Scholars recording today from iTunes and we might just replace Nessun Dorma at the top of the Classical Singles Chart! "

Spem in alium was one of the Tallis Scholars most important early recordings. Their catalogue is huge, all available on independent label Gimell Records. I've written about their superb Josquin Masses here. Their latest release features music by the French composer Jean Mouton (c.1459-1522) including his masterpiece the Missa Dictes moy toutes voz pensées.. "The sweetness of tone in Mouton’s music that makes him quite distinct from everyone else is also combined with an ability to write music of the utmost mathematical complexity. This was almost unparalleled and led him to be routinely compared with Josquin in his lifetime".

Why shouldn't people discover classical music in new ways, like they discovered Nessun Dorma from football? This is how the real world operates. Jeremiahs who think that the future of classical music lies in writing pap to order should take note. The public isn't stupid. Inspire people's imaginations, give them real music and they rise to the challenge.