Notes and Editorial Reviews
CEREMONY AND DEVOTION • Harry Christophers, dir; The Sixteen • CORO COR 16077 (75:48 Text and Translation)
BYRD Laudibus in sanctis. Domine praestolamur. Haec dies. Infelix ego. SHEPPARD Sacris solemniis. Media vita. TALLIS Jesu Salvator saeculi. Miserere nostri. Iam Christus astra ascenderat
"Harry Christophers began the new millennium with a choral pilgrimage, a series of concerts in the most distinguished cathedrals and chapels in England. He continued to pursue the idea annually, this marking its 10th anniversary. The works gathered here represent three composers who witnessed the transition from Henry VIII to Edward VI to Mary I to Elizabeth I, a see-saw era for faith and worship that made severe
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demands on composers charged with providing music for services. The pre-reform style is represented by the opening Sarum chant of the familiar hymn Veni Creator Spiritus, a good example of fussiness in the Sarum use with extra melodic notes and shifting text underlay in a chant that is basically the same as heard on the Continent for centuries before. But the annotation links it with Sheppard’s Media vita, which sounds like the early Tudor polyphonic style but certainly dates from Mary’s revival of Catholic worship, as we saw in the last issue. Byrd’s Haec dies is the six-voice setting of 1591, the most familiar piece on the program. Both of the Sheppard pieces are on Peter Phillips’s disc (Fanfare 14: 2). The piece that ends the program, Byrd’s Infelix ego, also ended the final disc of Andrew Carwood’s Byrd Edition reviewed herewith, where I failed to mention this addition to the list.
The most interesting piece on the disc, and by far the longest, is the astonishing anthem Media vita, just heard on a marvelous Stile Antico disc (33:5). I compared that version to the only two previous recordings known to me, those by Peter Phillips (just noted above) and David Allinson (23:4). In the short time since that review was finished, I obtained a copy of Paul McCreesh’s 2006 version and this newest recording also arrived. McCreesh arranged a program titled The Road to Paradise that included English choral works from Sarum chant to Parsons, Tallis, Byrd, and Sheppard as well as Holst, Britten, Howells, Bennett, Harris, and Tavener. Again Media vita is by far the longest work on a generously filled disc, though his is the fastest of the five versions. Deutsche Grammophon (not Archiv) issued the disc (477 6605), but, while the local branch does not handle it, some dealers are offering it as an import."
FANFARE: J. F. Weber
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Works on This Recording
1.
Veni creator spiritus, hymn in mode 8 by Anonymous
Conductor:
Harry Christophers
Orchestra/Ensemble:
The Sixteen
Period: Medieval
Written: by 1000; Europe
Date of Recording: 10/2009
Venue: All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London,
Length: 4 Minutes 8 Secs.
2.
Liber secundus sacrarum cantionum: Laudibus in sanctis by William Byrd
Period: Renaissance
Written: by 1591; London, England
Date of Recording: 10/2009
Venue: All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London,
Length: 5 Minutes 16 Secs.
3.
Sacris solemniis iuncta sit gaudia, motet for 8 voices by John Sheppard
Period: Renaissance
Written: 1553-1558; England
Date of Recording: 10/2009
Venue: All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London,
Length: 8 Minutes 5 Secs.
4.
Jesu salvator saeculi by Thomas Tallis
Period: Renaissance
Written: 16th Century; England
Date of Recording: 10/2009
Venue: All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London,
Length: 4 Minutes 56 Secs.
5.
Media Vita, motet for 6 voices by John Sheppard
Period: Renaissance
Written: 1553-1558; England
Date of Recording: 10/2009
Venue: All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London,
Length: 24 Minutes 31 Secs.
6.
Miserere nostri by Thomas Tallis
Period: Renaissance
Written: after 1559; England
Date of Recording: 10/2009
Venue: All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London,
Length: 2 Minutes 42 Secs.
7.
Cantiones sacrae, Book 1: Domine praestolamur by William Byrd
Period: Renaissance
Written: by 1589; England
Date of Recording: 10/2009
Venue: All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London,
Length: 6 Minutes 14 Secs.
8.
Jam Christus astra ascenderat by Thomas Tallis
Period: Renaissance
Written: 16th Century; England
Date of Recording: 10/2009
Venue: All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London,
Length: 4 Minutes 53 Secs.
9.
Liber secundus sacrarum cantionum: Haec dies by William Byrd
Period: Renaissance
Written: by 1591; London, England
Date of Recording: 10/2009
Venue: All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London,
Length: 2 Minutes 27 Secs.
10.
Infelix ego by William Byrd
Written: pub 1591
Date of Recording: 10/2009
Venue: All Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London,
Length: 12 Minutes 23 Secs.
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