Playing Elizabeth's Tune: Sacred Music by William Byrd

In 2002 The Tallis Scholars recorded an audio-visual Byrd-fest in three parts: a concert- format sequence of some of his sacred music in the atmospheric setting of Tewkesbury Abbey; a documentary... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 2nd Feb 2004
Catalogue No: GIMDP901
Label: Gimell

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Byrd: Mass for four voices

The Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips

Byrd: Ave verum Corpus

The Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips

Byrd: Diffusa est gratia

The Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips

Byrd: Magnificat (The Great Service)

The Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips

Byrd: Ne irascaris Domine

The Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips

Byrd: Nunc dimittis

The Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips

Byrd: O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth

The Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips

Byrd: Prevent Us, O Lord

The Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips

Byrd: Tristitia et anxietas

The Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips

Byrd: Vigilate (from Cantiones sacrae 1589)

The Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips

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Filmed in Merton College Chapel, Oxford and by candlelight in Tewkesbury Abbey

Reviews

2010

In 2002 The Tallis Scholars recorded an audio-visual Byrd-fest in three parts: a concert- format sequence of some of his sacred music in the atmospheric setting of Tewkesbury Abbey; a documentary of his life and his relationship to his powerful patroness, Queen Elizabeth I; and, as an 'audio bonus', another outing for the Scholars' outstanding version of the three Byrd Masses, recorded in Merton College Chapel.
Charles Hazlewood fronts the documentary; xasually attired and casually unshaven, he has a degree of ease, if not exactly charm, in front of the camera. He traces adeptly and fluently the different phases of Byrd's career, with stunning visuals of Lincoln Cathedral, the Chapel Royal and Ingatestone Hall as impressive backdrops.
The whole is lent authority through the erudite but accessible contributions of experts on Reformation England (Christopher Haigh) and Byrd's music (David Skinner). Hazlewood sums up by talking about the hidden depths of passion in Byrd's music, and its range, though given that the documentary is slanted towards his development as a composer of church music, we get only background snippets of his keyboard and consort music. Nevertheless, the tale is well told, not least with added visual elements such as shots of 16th-century documentation, the original printed editions of Byrd's music and his own beautifully penned autograph.
As to the performances, it's interesting to hear Peter Phillips emphasize the passionate nature of Byrd's sacred music, when this aspect is fairly understated in The Tallis Scholars' performances. This isn't to say that they don't have a high degree of intensity at times: on the whole: they capture the ebb and flow of the music well, but there's a sense of distance. Phillips talks of getting right inside, of 'ticking along with the music', and that's what he does above all. This may not be the only way to perform Byrd's music but it's still very impressive in the ethereal clarity of the overall sound, and in the total commitment and rare understanding resulting from these musicians' years of experience.

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