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]
I’ll
get my one grumble about this very enjoyable
CD out of the way at once. As on their
other recordings of Gibbons (Naxos 8.550603)
and his contemporaries, Red Byrd insist
on attempting to reproduce Elizabethan
pronunciation, which comes over as a
kind of Mummerset dialect with a touch
of Dick van Dyke’s attempts at cockney
in Mary Poppins. I wish they
wouldn’t do it: it partly spoils my
enjoyment of their otherwise excellent
singing and there is no firm evidence
as to how Elizabethan English sounded.
My sweet little biby particular
spoils an excellent performance of Byrd’s
Cradle Song (track 11).
We know
much more about the pronunciation of
Chaucer and Langland than we do about
that of the language 200 years nearer
to our own time; there just isn’t enough
evidence how fast the vowel change that
transformed the pure medieval vowels
into the impure, diphthongised, modern
versions took place.
Strictly
speaking, too, John Amner’s O Ye
Little Flock (published in 1614)
is a Jacobean, rather than an Elizabethan
piece, but to have omitted it would
have deprived us of some imaginative
and attractive music, almost a miniature
version of the medieval Shepherds’ Play.
This
is the Record of John is Gibbons’s
best-known anthem – rightly so, in my
opinion; it’s a little masterpiece and
it makes a fine opening to the CD. It’s
also in the right place in the time
line, since the words come from the
Gospel for the Fourth and last Sunday
in Advent; therefore it rightly precedes
the Christmas theme proper. Apart from
my grumble about the pronunciation –
take this as read from now on – it receives
an excellent performance here, much
more domestic in scale than classic
recording by the likes of King’s College
Choir and Winchester Cathedral Choir
(the latter with other music by Gibbons
on Hyperion Helios CDH55228). I’m surprised
that Jeremy Summerly didn’t include
it on his otherwise very recommendable
Naxos CD of Gibbons’s Anthems and Services
(8.553130 – another small-scale set
of performances), but those looking
to expand their knowledge of the music
of Gibbons would be well advised to
begin with the two Naxos CDs which I
have mentioned, supplemented perhaps
by the Helios disc – the basis of a
sound collection for very little outlay.
The
Amon Ra CD is well worth buying for
this and the other Gibbons works alone.
See, see, the Word is Incarnate
(track 13) is included on the Summerly
recording – a more ‘rounded’ version,
but not necessarily to be preferred
to this lively Red Byrd account, which
brings the CD to an enjoyable conclusion.
Byrd’s
fellow recusants would have recognised
the underlying theme of his instrumental
Christe, qui lux es et dies,
a morning hymn from the Roman Breviary.
Like all the instrumental pieces – and,
indeed, the accompaniments of the sung
items – it’s well performed by the Rose
Consort, exponents of authentic performance
without tears, though certainly not
without commitment.
Of the
other instrumental items here, Byrd’s
Fantasy Browning was based on
a popular tune, Thomas Ravenscroft’s
Browning madame; Gibbons’s In
Nomine is explained in my comments
below on the booklet of notes, and the
two pieces by Holborne are in two popular
dance forms of the day, the stately
pavan or pavane and the
galliard. If you find them attractive
enough to want to explore Holborne’s
music more thoroughly, as well you may,
other dances from his 1599 collection
are available on a most recommendable
super-budget CD on the Regis label (RRC1076,
with selections from Prætorius’s
Terpsichore).
The
Verse Anthem was a peculiarly Anglican
development; like the Full Anthem it
was developed to supply the need for
vocal music at the end of Mattins and
Evensong, to replace the antiphon or
anthem of the Virgin Mary which had
previously been sung at the end of Compline.
Though it was not until the revision
of 1662 that the Book of Common Prayer
inserted the famous rubric ‘In Quires
and places where they sing, here followeth
the Anthem’, the practice had developed
quite early in Elizabeth I’s reign.
I’ve
already praised the performances of
the anthems by Gibbons which begin and
end the programme; that of Tomkins’s
Sing unto God is equally fine
and the music almost – but not quite
– in the same league as that of Gibbons.
John
Bull’s The Starre Anthem is slightly
unusual in that it is based on the Collect
for the Epiphany: "O God, who by
the guiding of a star dist manifest
thy only-begotten Son to the Gentiles:
Mercifully grant that we, which know
thee now by faith, may after this life
have the fruition of thy glorious Godhead;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen."
It’s also the sole example here of the
Full Anthem, i.e. sung by the full choir.
The
final vocal form represented here is
the Consort Song, for solo voice and
instruments. Byrd’s Lullaby (track
12) is beautifully sung by Caroline
Trevor (alto) and his Sweet was the
Song (track 8) equally well by Kate
Eckersley (soprano). Both pieces provide
excellent examples of Byrd’s genius,
developed from that of his mentor Tallis,
for pouring old wine into new bottles
without souring the wine or breaking
the bottle – the sentiments of the pre-reformation
carol updated for Elizabeth’s essentially
conservative reformation.
Though
there are no texts, Red Byrd’s pronunciation
paradoxically mostly makes the diction
very clear. For those who want them,
however, most of the texts are available
on the web. Otherwise, the booklet contains
some very helpful notes, explaining,
for example, how Gibbons’s In Nomine
belongs to a peculiarly English instrumental
genre, derived from the words In
nomine Domini in Taverner’s setting
of the Benedictus of his Mass
Gloria tibi Trinitas. Don’t worry
if you find it hard to spot the tune
here – part of the fun of this form
was to disguise the original so thoroughly
that only the scholarly could find it;
the new piece had to be capable of entertaining
on its own, which is certainly the case
here.
The
combination of vocal and instrumental
music makes for a varied programme;
all the performances are highly enjoyable
– the performers actually sound as if
they are enjoying their contributions
– the recording and presentation are
more than adequate and the whole CD
is fun. So what are you waiting for?
Brian
Wilson
Johan
van Veen has also listened to this disc:
At the time this programme
was originally recorded the repertoire
was not completely unknown, but certainly
not as often performed as it is today.
But that doesn't mean this disc hasn't
something interesting to offer. Today
it is the way this repertoire is performed
which makes it still worthwhile to listen
to.
The most interesting
aspect of the performance is the pronunciation
of English. It is assumed this is the
way English was spoken in the Elizabethan
era. Over the years I have heard many
recordings of music from this time,
but only very seldom I have noticed
the use of this kind of pronunciation.
It was used by the ensemble Boston Camerata
in a recording of songs by John Dowland,
and one reviewer criticised that they
were singing with an American accent.
That is because the 'American r' is
one of the more striking aspects of
this pronunciation. It certainly doesn't
sound like Standard English, but I find
it very fascinating to hear this repertoire
in this kind of performance, so different
from the way it is sung by established
English vocal ensembles.
The core of this disc
is a number of verse anthems, sacred
pieces in which sections for solo voice
and tutti sections are alternating.
These were sung in church, with organ
accompaniment, but they also found their
way to private homes, where they were
performed as part of private worship.
There the accompaniment was a consort
of viols instead of the organ.
It is not only the
pronunciation which is different, the
interpretation as a whole is a bit more
dramatic and stronger in (dynamic) contrasts
than usual. The voices of the ensemble
blend very well, and the individual
singers give good performances of the
solo sections.
In addition to the
anthems a couple of consort songs are
performed. This genre could be either
sacred or secular, but there isn't always
a strict separation between the two.
The most famous song is William Byrd's
'Lullaby', sung by Caroline Trevor.
The anonymous 'Sweet was the song the
virgin sang' is also a lullaby; this
beautiful piece is sung by Kate Eckersly.
The instrumental parts
in these consort songs is played by
the Rose Consort of Viols, which also
plays some consort pieces. Although
most of them have little or nothing
to do with Christmas, they certainly
fit well into the programme. The pavan
and galliard by Anthony Holborne are
most suitable as their titles indicate.
Their character is well served by the
fine sense of rhythm the Rose Consort
displays.
Almost 20 years after
this disc was first released these performances
have lost nothing of their appeal. In
a way it is a bit embarrassing that
some of the aspects of the performance
practice of this recording have had
no real effect. But, apart from the
particularities of the interpretation,
this is just fine music in splendid
performances. The only minus of this
production is the lack of the lyrics
in the booklet.
Johan van Veen
Red Byrd; The Rose Consort of Viols 
