Gibbons, O: The Silver Swan

On a new disc to celebrate the 2012 Diamond Jubilee, The King's Singers present a selection of works from the past 500 years written in honour of the great Monarchs of Britain. Starting with works for (and in some cases by) Henry VIII, the programme covers the Elizabethan 'Triumphs of Oriana' by composers such as Gibbons, Mundy and Dowland; a very Victorian selection of dedicatory works by Elgar, Parry and Parrat; choral arrangements from the opera 'Glorianna' by Benjamin Britten; and a new piece by Paul Drayton that comically pens 'A Rough Guide to the Royal Succession'. (Drayton is perhaps best known to fans of The King's Singers as the composer of their much-loved encore work Masterpiece.)

16th-century England was a place of much religious change. It was a dangerous and confusing time and it is testament to their incredible skill and musical mastery that composers like Tallis and Byrd were able to produce such magnificent works in such troubled times. Their music left a lasting legacy, influencing some of our most celebrated 20th- and 21st-century composers and surviving over half a millennium to be performed as widely today as they have ever been.

This disc features some of the best-loved classics of Tudor and Jacobean church music together with madrigals by Tallis, Byrd and Gibbons. They are performed alongside pieces by Britten, Tippett and MacMillan including the Five Spirituals from A Child of Our Time and the Choral Dances from Gloriana. The Sixteen has performed this repertoire around the world over the last six years and is one of the ensemble’s most popular concert programmes.

Shakespeare – Come again sweet love is a haunting collection of songs and madrigals by some of the great masters of the Renaissance period, including Purcell, Dowland and Gibbons. The theme of the album is “love” in all its many forms, expressed through the poetry of the Shakespearian Era and the music it inspired.

Daniel Taylor is joined on the album by the Theatre of Early Music (founded and conducted by Daniel Taylor) and famous soloists Dame Emma Kirkby, Carolyn Sampson, Michael Chance and Charles Daniels.

Daniel and the Theatre of Early Music appear in some 30 concerts every year. The ensemble consists of a choir and orchestra that are dedicated to sustain the heritage of magnificent yet neglected choral and instrumental repertoire from four centuries. Their recent performance could be seen on stages in France, England, Argentina, Brazil and China.

Daniel Taylor is a prolific recording artist who has worked on numerous albums including Sakamoto’s pop-opera Life with the Dalai Lama and Salman Rushdie, Renaissance duets with actor Ralph Fiennes, and Bach recitals with the Theatre of Early Music to name only a few.

'Humori' is a Renaissance celebration of Carnival, the period between the twelfth day of Christmas and Lent. Performed by the excellent early music ensemble Les Voix humaines.

A festive celebration of Christmas featuring music from 12th to 17th century Europe, played by the UK's leading early brass ensemble and friends, including virginals, bagpipes, drums, recorders, singers, and a Rommel-pot.

“Originally released on the Classics for Pleasure label, the issuing of this CD will mark the first time these tracks have been commercially available for over 20 years. The twelve madrigals presented here were deliberately chosen to show off the scope of the best English madrigal writing around the year 1600. Do I regret not having done more of this repertoire in the intervening years? I would, if there hadn’t been so much first-rate sacred music to explore.” Peter Phillips

A tantalising fusion of ancient and modern, ‘Byrdland’ explores the world of the Renaissance song accompanied by a modern-day saxophone quartet. All the songs on the disc were written by the great composers working in England in

the 16th and 17th centuries. Recent recordings by artists as diverse as Sting and Brian Asawa have partnered the singer with the more traditional lute.