Orlando
GIBBONS (1583-1625)
Verse Anthem: This is the Record of
John [3:39]
William
BYRD (1542-1623)
Christe qui lux es (instrumental
setting) [1:19]
Thomas
TOMKINS (1572-1676)
Verse Anthem: Sing Unto God [6:07]
Martin
PEERSON (1580-1650)
Upon my Lap [4:31]
William
BYRD Fantasy
2 in 1 (à5) [5:52]
John
AMNER (d.1641)
Verse Anthem: O Ye Little Flock [5:45]
William
BYRD Fantasy
Browning [4:16]
Anthony
HOLBORNE (d.1602)
Consort Song: Sweet was the Song the
Virgin Sung [2:09]
Pavan The Cradle; Galliard Lullabie
[5:10]
William
BYRD Consort
Song Lullaby [5;19]
Orlando
GIBBONS In
Nomine [4:53]
Verse Anthem: See, see, the Word is
Incarnate [5:41]
In the 17th
century it was common for households
with the requisite number of musicians
and the finances to afford a consort
of viols to entertain themselves with
music for viols. These were supplemented
by consort songs and verse anthems.
It might seem strange to us, but it
was perfectly common for domestic performances
to mix sacred and secular music. These
verse anthems were designed for small-scale
use and though sacred were not originally
intended to be liturgical. In fact,
playing viols in a cold church is not
ideal and when verse anthems did move
into the church, they were often accompanied
by organ.
This disc from Red
Byrd and the Rose Consort of Viols intends
to re-create the sort of domestic music-making
that might have taken place in the early
17th century. It was recorded,
in 1989, in the domestic situation of
Forde Abbey in Dorset. The texts of
the songs and anthems tell the Christmas
story, and instrumental pieces have
been interspersed amongst the vocal
numbers.
A number of Red Byrd’s
recordings from this period experiment
with period pronunciation of the text.
I had always understood that Elizabethan
English would have been closest to the
contemporary Ulster accent. On this
disc the singer of Red Byrd adopts,
with varying degrees of success, a rather
West Country ‘mummerset’ accent, perhaps
inspired by the location of the recording
venue.
This is most pronounced
in the opening item, This is the
Record of John, where the tenor
soloist adopts an alarmingly uncompromising
accent. Though the singers are credited,
no soloists are specified, so I can
only assume that the tenor on this track
is John Potter. His accent, combined
with the rather flowing tempo, means
that this interpretation is worlds away
from the slow reverence of a church
performance, and that is presumably
what was intended. Whilst you may not
always like the decisions taken by the
performers, the results are nothing
if not refreshing.
Tomkins’s Sing unto
God, sets verses from Psalm 68 in
quite a dramatic style. The solo bass
part - presumably Richard Wistreich
- is quite wide-ranging and challenges
Wistreich at both ends of his range.
The texts used for
verse anthems were many and varied.
John Amner’s O Ye Little Flock turns
to a paraphrase of St. Luke, which is
set in such a way as to use different
soloists to dramatise the story. It
must be said that once beyond the first
track, the accents become rather less
uncompromising and rather more acceptable;
though one or two of the singers have
trouble remaining consistent. There
are hints of standard received pronunciation
breaking through - many listeners will
find this a relief, I suspect.
John Bull’s lovely
Starre Anthem leaves the Bible
behind and sets a Collect, using a lovely
variety of vocal textures to characterize
the work. The final Verse anthem is
Gibbons’ See, see, the Word is Incarnate,
which sets a religious poem.
Gibbons carefully increases the intensity
verse by verse until the glorious final
chorus ‘where all the choir of heaven
all jointly sing’.
Amongst these verse
anthems are distributed a number of
lovely consort songs such as the anonymous
Sweet was the song the virgin sung
and Byrd’s Lullaby. Their
texts reflect the general theme of the
disc. The instrumental numbers are less
directly relevant, but provide a lovely
contrast to the vocal items especially
when given in lively and appealing performances
as here.
There are no texts
provided, just an illuminating article
by two members of the Rose Consort of
Viols. In fact the diction is so good
that you hardly need to consult a printed
text.
In many ways this disc
rather shows its age, especially with
the attempts at period accent in the
sung items. But the musicianship and
scholarship are of such a high order
and the performances so vivid and infectious
that it would still make a charming
Christmas present.
Robert Hugill
see also
reviews by Brian Wilson and Johan van
Veen
Red Byrd; The Rose Consort of Viols 
