Favourites,
William Byrd, 400 years on
Hailed in his own time as one of the most accomplished and influential English composers, Byrd's reputation is no less bright today, as his music's constant presence in the repertoires of choirs, consorts, keyboard players and more attests - and the enormous catalogue of recordings.
Though his date of birth is shadowy and unclear, we do know that he died on July 4th 1623, after a tumultuous life that saw him wrestle with both his own conscience and the authority of the State in matters of religion, as England grappled with its own sense of spiritual identity in the contested decades following the English Reformation. His music, likewise, ranges from sober Protestant homophony to magnificent Catholic opulence.
Here is just a small selection, from the last couple of years, of recordings of Byrd's timeless music.
Sacred and secular choral music
Based around Byrd's largest Mass setting, for five voices, this anniversary-year collection from the Gesualdo Six also includes a selection of his anthems, many with a penitential mood responding to the sense of exile felt by English Catholics in the Tudor era. The twelve-minute Lamentations that close the album are particularly special, with the timbre and pitch of the all-male consort lending a dark hue. Often eclipsed by Tallis's own undeniably magnificent setting, Byrd's deserves to be heard more often.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
Contrasting with the relatively sunny contents of the 1611 book (also the subject of a recent recording, about which more below), 1588's collection has more than an eye towards mourning - featuring two funerary elegies and secular laments, as well as a work thought to have been composed in memory of the Jesuit priest Edmund Campion, who was captured, tortured and executed in 1581 for promoting Catholicism in England.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Byrd 1589: Songs of sundrie natures
Jacob Heringman (lute), Lynda Sayce, Clare Wilkinson (contralto), Martha McLorinan, Alamire, Fretwork, David Skinner
Intended in part as a more modest and approachable counterpart to his 1588 song collection, the 1589 book ranges from metrical psalm-settings to secular madrigals and solo consort songs, here sung by Clare Wilkinson and Martha McLorinan. Alamire and Fretwork are both accomplished in this repertoire, and the concluding Christ rising again draws both soloists and both ensembles together in an uplifting curtain-call.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Unsurprisingly it has been a busy year for Fretwork; here they appear again, in conjunction with The Sixteen, for a complete recording of Byrd's valedictory publication - with the composer seemingly at his most upbeat and optimistic. Sing we merrily, Make ye joy, and Come let us rejoice are just three of the decidedly celebratory works included in the 1611 compendium.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
A neat counterpart in a sense to the Gesualdo Six's album - Stile Antico build their anniversary tribute around the Mass for Four Voices, interspersed with some lesser-known motets, from the extended Tribue, Domine to shorter introits and propers. A scattering of English-language anthems completes the overview.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
The imagery of English recusant Catholics celebrating Mass in hiding for fear of persecution has inspired many artistic responses over the years - including a staged and costumed dramatisation of Byrd's music that the Gesualdo Six are taking on tour of England and Scotland this year. The Marian Consort's Singing in Secret explores the same themes, as well as looking deeper into hidden messages of defiance and subversion in Byrd's works.
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Keyboard music
The varied and at times surprisingly virtuosic keyboard music of Byrd is no less effective on a modern piano than on period keyboard instruments; Daniel-Ben Pienaar's two-and-three-quarter-hour album runs the gamut from inconsequential miniatures to weighty pavans and grounds, some lasting nearly ten minutes.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Pianist, composer, phenomenally erudite musicologist: Kit Armstrong seems to be on first-name terms with Byrd and his contemporaries. Perhaps a little more willing than Pienaar to introduce modern pianistic elements into the music, he contrasts Byrd's music with that of John Bull, whose earlier wild and experimental works push the limits of what music theory would allow.
Available Formats: 2 CDs, MP3, FLAC
For those who really aren't convinced by Byrd on the piano, it would be hard to be more authentic than Friederike Chylek's performance on a contemporary copy of a 1624 Ruckers harpsichord. BBC Music Magazine praised Chylek's ability to capture the way in which Byrd's music "foreshadow[ed] that of François Couperin".
Available Formats: CD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC
Consort music
The Honour of William Byrd
Helen Charlston (mezzo-soprano), Ibrahim Aziz, Alison Kinder, Kate Conway, Sam Stadlen, Jennifer Bullock, Harry Buckoke, Chelys Consort of Viols
Although some of Byrd's more intimate consort music has appeared in the above recordings, an album devoted solely to it is very much welcome. Helen Charlston's rich, deep alto voice combining focused directness with an underlying warmth is a rare pleasure, and she takes centre stage here in a collection of consort-songs and instrumental music. The heartbreaking elegy Ye sacred muses, written in memory of Byrd's mentor Thomas Tallis, is especially powerful.
Available Formats: SACD, MP3, FLAC, Hi-Res FLAC, Hi-Res+ FLAC
With Lilies White. Byrd's Consort Songs & Music for Viols
Gérard Lesne (counter-tenor), Ensemble Orlando Gibbons, Wieland Kuijken
Perhaps the most apposite counterpart to a Byrd album for alto and consort: A Byrd album for countertenor and consort. Lesne is maybe a touch more heart-on-sleeve than Charlston, and the Ensemble Orlando Gibbons play with a little more of a sense of taking singer-like "breaths" in their bowing. Which you prefer is down to personal taste; for me, both approaches work equally well, and the fact that the two singers include some of the same repertoire makes for a thought-provoking comparison.
Available Formats: MP3, FLAC
David Smith - Head of Digital
