This CD comprises the whole of ‘Popular music from the time of
Henry VIII’ first issued on Saga LP 5444 in 1977 and in 1994 on
Emergo Classics CD EC 3357-2. In addition the first six tracks
are about half of ‘Songs for a Tudor king’, Saga LP 5461 from
1978 and in 1994 Emergo CD EC 3378-2. This king is Henry VII.
Featured first is Robert Fayrfax’s I love, loved and loved
would I be, the music of which flows more smoothly and naturally
than the rather tortuous text suggests. This CD’s title, I
love unloved, is incorrectly the same as an anonymous piece
featured later Fayrfax uses extended melismata at the ends of
phrases to depict a happy state of mind on the words ‘assurance’,
‘dance’ and ‘I’, lightly and smoothly done by the Hilliard Ensemble,
the use of a soprano on the top line, backed by tenor and baritone
helps.
William Cornysh’s
Woefully arrayed is the only other outing for the soprano,
now with countertenor as well as tenor and baritone. It’s a
stark testimony by Christ of his sufferings immediately before
and on the cross and a call to mankind not to forget these suffered
for love and to come, welcome, to him, expressed in a wide vocal
range. In the main a poignantly reflective piece, there are
passages of livelier rhythmic effects such as ‘They mowed, the
grinned, they scorned me’ (tr. 2 3:39) and in this Hilliard
Ensemble performance a paler delicate texture at ‘was like a
lamb offered in sacrifice’ (5:53) before the contrasted outcry
of the terse final refrain. I compared the Tallis Scholars/Peter
Phillips recording published 1988 (Gimell CDGIM 014). This has
a more flowing, smoother presentation, taking 7:07 to the Hilliard
Ensemble’s 8:23. The Tallis use 2 voices per part whereas the
Hilliards with one voice per part are more personal, the Tallis
more ascetic. The Tallis’s actual timing is 9:07 because they
repeat the opening refrain at the end. This gives the piece
more symmetry but the refrain is shortened between verses and
varies on every presentation so just the brief final refrain
also makes for an effective ending. The Gimell CD booklet includes
both sung text and a modern English ‘translation’; both considerably
aid accessibility for the listener but are lacking in this Alto
CD.
Fayrfax’s That
was my woe, a duet for countertenor and tenor, contrasts
former woe with present gladness in the arrival of skipping
melismata, with an extended one on ‘body’ to close which has
the effect of an oath of allegiance. Sheryngham’s Ah gentle
Jesu starts as a dialogue between a sinner in countertenor
and first tenor and Jesus in second tenor and baritone parts
and the vocal timbres between alternating groupings and all
parts are contrasted throughout. This regular thinning of texture
adds to the intensity of the articulation which always returns
to the adoring ‘Ah gentle Jesu’.
Fayrfax’s Most
clear of colour, for countertenor and two tenor parts, has
a clean line which matches its text and evolves into a refined
melismatic contemplation of perfect womanhood. Cornysh’s Hoyda
hoyda jolly rutterkin is the most unbuttoned piece on this
CD, presented by two tenors and baritone with rustic accents,
peals of melismata here used vividly to depict carousing almost
palpably. Similar, but more stroppy than jolly and with more
combative imitation is the anonymous Be peace! Ye make me
spill my ale! (tr. 18). After this you welcome the sunny
contrast of the relaxed, easy progression of the lute solo of
the Duke of Somersette’s Dompe (tr. 19).
But both these are
from Henry VIII’s time, arriving on this CD with O lusty
May (tr. 7). Crisply presented, this bounces along with
relish, highly rhythmic and with inbuilt embellishments. The
first verse appears on countertenor, tenor and baritone. In
the second the countertenor is joined by tenor dulcian, tenor
recorder and bass sackbut, then a ‘verse’ for instruments alone
with a very agile dulcian, a cross between oboe and bassoon
but more oboe like, before voices and instruments come together
for the final verse. This is the first of 4 songs from Scotland.
The second, Begone sweit night (tr. 9) is a rather lovely
lutesong with radiant upper register at the end of its verses.
It begins as a gentle plea to night to go so the loved one may
be met and turns more buoyant in its second verse, ‘Arise bright
day’ but Paul Elliott still preserves its courtly deference.
Absent I am (tr. 14), the third Scottish piece, is a
hymn like lament on a long absence repeatedly emphasised, its
second verse a farewell to a sweetheart delivered in tender
sotto voce. The final Scots item, My heartly service
(tr. 15) is a rugged affirmation of fealty freshly declaimed
in yokel accents by tenor and baritone backed by tenor dulcian
which provides the 6 note ground bass. Including a roll call
of servants it’s like a foretaste of the settings of London
street cries.
Henry VIII enters
as composer with En vray amoure (tr. 10). Just
the sort of raucous and forthright, bold and brazen stuff you’d
expect, quite literally when performed here by soprano shawm,
tenor and bass sackbuts yet the New London Consort also show
some nifty ornamentation in repeated phrases. But then the tenderness
of Henry’s O my heart (tr. 11), the lament of one who
must leave his love, is a revelation. Here its top line is presented
first as a countertenor solo before tenor and baritone join
in to sing the 3 part version. The descending melisma on ‘O’
in the repeat of the title line is full of despair in this brief
but haunting piece. With the same voices This day daws
(tr. 8) offers chaste verses and a gentle parade of melismata
with an airily soaring close to the refrain. The anonymous Madame
d’amours (tr. 12) adds a bass voice to make 4 parts which
together create a surprising intensity of expression and conviction
of statement in smooth, sunny flowering melismata. After which
Consort Piece XX, pleasingly shaped but rather brooding, is
played here by tenor recorder and lute.
Hey trolly lolly
lo! is a swinging piece in whose verses a man, slowly, suavely
yet also without equivocation tempts a maid to pleasure in a
meadow and in whose refrains she rejects him with a combination
of vigour and coyness, in case mum can see them. En frolyk
weson is more gutsy with spiky melismata. The bass part
here is taken by tenor sackbut beneath countertenor and tenor
singers.
Ah Robin
builds in this performance a meditative refrain from tenor solo
with baritone added and then countertenor descant, after which
the refrain continues in the lower voices beneath the countertenor
verses. The whole effect is one of soulful yearning. For the
same voices, I love unloved features extended melismata
at the ends of phrases which almost physically traces the pain
aroused on such words as creature, heart and endure, whose overall
flowing line contrasts with the underlying emotion. Up I
arose in verno tempore is the wry delivery of the dilemma
of a man who finds his girl is pregnant and all his potential
actions spell disaster. The tune and backing of alto and bass
cornamuse bounce the song along comically.
Puzzle Canon VI,
played twice, is a bracing duet for soprano crumhorn and tenor
sackbut. And I were a maiden is first presented in its
purest form as a countertenor solo song of quite a strong, folksy
line, then as a comely, cultivated partsong with tenor, baritone,
bass, tenor recorder and lute added. In the second and third
verses the instruments accompany the solo voice presentation
and in the second have the repeat to themselves. England
be glad is a lusty early version of ‘Your country needs
you’, for Henry’s invasion of France in 1513. It’s stirring,
athletic stuff for tenor, baritone and bass with ‘common man’
accents and aggressive styled melismata which are also deft
too in depicting ‘fight’, ‘light’ horses and the hoped for ‘flight’
of the French.
These are fine,
well balanced performances, the racy pieces especially enjoyable.
The serious ones are a little reserved and could be a touch
more yieldingly expressive. But they illuminate an area still
not well represented on disc. This CD is excellent value but
could be more listener friendly. The inclusion of sung texts
and a glossary or translations in modern English would have
made its contents more accessible.
Michael Greenhalgh
Hilliard Ensemble1, New
London Consort2/Phil Pickett
