THE magic is in the detail. Harry Christophers brought his peerless singers to York on Saturday, the fourth city on their 16-cathedral tour, with Tallis as the source of their inspiration.

The National Youth Choir (NYC) under Michael Brewer provided the supporting act, celebrating Tippett's centenary.

We shall never know the exact year of Tallis's birth, but 1505 is the most probable, making this his 500th anniversary. His towering achievements, striding the Reformation period like a colossus - he lived until 1585 - make him effectively the founding father of English cathedral music, not least as teacher, and later colleague, of William Byrd.

Christophers paid him impeccable homage. There is a sense in which his musicians are not singers at all, but instrumentalists. Their voices are - quite properly for the Tudor style - devoid of individual humanity, straight-toned and tuned with pinpoint accuracy. It all sounds so simple. On the contrary, ducking and weaving through the rigours of Renaissance counterpoint takes selfless discipline.

Then the treasures really begin to gleam: the final cadence of Salvator Mundi, for example, tantalisingly teased out. So, too, the tightly-woven Babel of Loquebantur Variis Linguis can rarely have sounded so clean. The stark clarity of Archbishop Parker's psalter and O Nata Lux made a deeply touching contrast.

The NYC decisively proved that there is a generation of singers ready to assume The Sixteen's mantle in due course. They integrated superbly in the final tour de force, Tallis's 40-part Spem in Alium. A dazzling evening.

Updated: 10:10 Monday, April 04, 2005