All of the music on this disc is drawn from the first volume of Gradualia published in 1605. The music is a world away from the dark broodings of the Cantiones Sacrae from 1589 and 1591 where Byrd is preoccupied with the melancholy which dominates his middle years. In the later publications Byrd achieves a fusion of styles, mixing the energy, word-painting and rhythmic vitality of the secular madrigal tradition with the spirituality and liturgical context of words from the Mass and Divine Office. The witty use of short bursts of melody often thrown from one voice to another, together with the energized rhythmic cells, suggests a man who is not obsessed with a hopeless cause. It may be that in the Essex countryside, surrounded by sympathetic folk, Byrd had found a real home away from the political maelstrom which raged in London. These pieces show a glimpse of the man which is rather different to our more usual perception of the composer racked with misery at the deprivation of Catholics in England. Here we see a man in the later stages of life, affected by the aftermath of the Reformation (as his earlier publications clearly show), yet who is now sufficiently relaxed and secure to be able to indulge his considerable wit and imagination, and who is confident enough to use the most up-to-date musical styles. Here there is no wringing of hands, nor downcast eyes but rather the musical embodiment of an unshakeable faith.

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‚Some of Byrd’s best writing, with complex imitation enlived by madrigal-style word settings. The Cardinall’s Musick seize on the subtleties and expressiveness of these settings … The inventiveness and depth of this recording outweigh its rare longeurs‘ (BBC Music Magazine)

‚Some of the three-part hymns are masterly in their technical assurance, setting the voices free to wander and with the lightness of touch recalling them to the fold for a cadence … Exquisitely wrought … To the singers and their director is due an additional hymn of praise‘ (Gramophone)

‚The Cardinall’s Musick under Andrew Carwood show the deep feeling as well as the dignity of these illicit and originally secret settings‘ (The Independent on Sunday)

‚Sublime music, then, an inspired and inspiring director and a series that Hyperion rescued from another label and has persevered with against all odds‘ (International Record Review)

‚Carwood has given us a series of Byrd recordings that will be a monument when he has finished, and this is a worthy part of the series… Don’t wait to add this to our collection‘ (Fanfare, USA)

‚The Cardinall’s Musick continues its odyssey through Byrd’s vocal output … The singing here is clean and balanced, with no attempt to make women’s voices resemble those of boys‘ (Sunday Times)

Artykuł BYRD <br />Assumpta est Maria <br />The Cardinall’s Musick <br />Andrew Carwood pochodzi z serwisu Cleartone.

The music of Hieronymus Praetorius is as assured, expressive and original as the Dürer image which adorns the CD cover. Yet this fine composer is much less well-known than his namesake (but not relation) Michael Praetorius.

Hieronymus Praetorius was organist of the Jacobikirche in Hamburg from 1586 until the end of his life. This somewhat sheltered background belies the sophisticated range of his works which are written in a variety of forms including the jubilant Venetian polychoral style. The composer’s highly individual voice, direct and yearning yet with a madrigalian lightness, pervades throughout.

Praetorius’s works were published in a number of editions during his lifetime. A collected edition of the sacred music of Hieronymus Praetorius was issued between the years of 1616 and 1625; this collection included hitherto unpublished music as well as reissues of already available works. The 1622 volume presents the most daring versions of many of the pieces recorded here and contains Praetorius’s second (and previously unpublished) Magnificat quinti toni (‘in the fifth tone’) to which are attached polyphonic arrangements of the popular medieval tunes Joseph, lieber Joseph mein and In dulci iubilo. This later setting of the fifth-tone Magnificat is Praetorius’s masterpiece.

The Cardinall’s Musick gives an impeccable yet delightfully extroverted performance of these fascinating works.

Artykuł PRAETORIUS <br />Magnificats & motets <br />The Cardinall’s Musick <br />Andrew Carwood pochodzi z serwisu Cleartone.