The Word Unspoken: Sacred Music by William Byrd & Philippe de Monte

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The ensemble's view of this repertory, though hardly new, is delivered with such intelligence and rhetorical persuasiveness that the cumulative weight of their Byrd, in particular, is well-nigh... — Gramophone Magazine, October 2012 More…

Release Date: 6th Jun 2012
Catalogue No: SIGCD295
Label: Signum
Length: 69 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

October 2012

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Byrd: Tristitia et anxietas

Work length9:17

$1.50

$2.10

Gallicantus

Byrd: Vigilate (from Cantiones Sacrae)

Work length4:38

$1.00

$1.40

Gallicantus

Byrd: Tribulationes civitatum (from Cantiones Sacrae)

Work length9:23

$1.50

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Gallicantus

Byrd: Vide, Domine, afflictionem (from Cantiones Sacrae)

Work length7:56

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Gallicantus

Byrd: Ne irascaris (from Cantiones Sacrae)

Work length8:46

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$2.10

Gallicantus

Monte, P: Domine, quid multiplicati sunt à 5

Work length5:47

$1.00

$1.40

Gallicantus

Monte, P: Miserere mei, Deus (from Motets Book V)

Work length3:32

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Gallicantus

Monte, P: Voce mea ad Dominum clamavi (from Motets Book V)

Work length3:02

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Gallicantus

Monte, P: O suavitas et dulcedo

Work length5:04

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Gallicantus

Monte, P: Super flumina Babylonis

Work length5:18

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Gallicantus

Byrd: Quomodo cantabimus

Work length6:28

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$1.40

Gallicantus

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William Byrd, favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, was a confirmed and practising Catholic who worshipped in defiance of the Queen. His status and perhaps even his life was preserved thanks partly to the undeniable mastery of his music, and to the fact that he was careful to maintain an output of music appropriate for a Protestant Rite (simple and English) as well as a Catholic one (florid and Latin).

Byrd was by no means the only major Catholic composer working in England during these years. Furthermore, there were English composers whose faith drove them to work abroad, as well as foreign composers who offered sympathy and encouragement to English Catholics. Included in this latter category was the Flemish composer Phillipe De Monte who entered into a fascinating compositional correspondence with Byrd. Verses of Psalm 136 ‘Super Flumina Babylonis’ (containing many allegorical references to the plight of catholics unable to practice their faith openly) were set to music and exchanged, in what is now seen as an encoded message of mutual support and friendship between brothers in faith.

The texts reveal the Catholic community’s sense of isolation: “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”, Quomodo Cantabimus; and bereavement: “Jerusalem is wasted”, Ne Irascaris, and the elaborate, poetic nature of the encoded messages distributed within it through music.

The early-music consort Gallicantus (led by former King's Singer Gabriel Crouch) is drawn from the ranks of recent BBC Music Magazine award-winning choir Tenebrae.

Reviews

October 2012

The ensemble's view of this repertory, though hardly new, is delivered with such intelligence and rhetorical persuasiveness that the cumulative weight of their Byrd, in particular, is well-nigh symphonic in effect...Only the most prejudiced critics of 'the English sound', I'd say, could dispute that Gallicantus achieves something rather special here.

9th July 2012

The intensity of the music is reflected in Gallicantus’s beautifully shaped performances, even if we miss now the raw sense of peril that English Catholics must then have felt.

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