Byrd: Cantiones Sacrae 1591

The Cardinall’s Musick Andrew Carwood conductor

Gramophone Award Finalist - Early Music 2009
This latest release in The Cardinall’s Musick complete Byrd Edition is surely one of the most eagerly-awaited events in the early music calendar. Previous discs in this award-winning survey of the greatest composer of the age have commanded the highest possible critical acclaim. Performances of filigree clarity, yet great passion and sincerity, allow the composer’s particular genius to shine forth in an unhindered blaze of glory. The works in this eleventh volume present Byrd the recusant: covering the last year of his fashionable career in London and moving to a quieter life in the Essex countryside. The music is from two sources: the magnificent Cantiones Sacrae of 1591 and the Gradualia from 1607. The seven motets from 1591 show Byrd to be pre-occupied with thoughts of desolation, loss, deprivation and separatio —familiar ideas for the recusant Catholic community. A feeling of angst in the music is leavened by a sense of salvation and a glimmer of hope that is the composer’s constant refrain. The Gradualia contains some of the most imaginative, modern-sounding and energetic music that the composer ever wrote. The Cardinall’s inspirational director Andrew Carwood sets the scene with fascinating booklet notes that illustrate the complex political and religious circumstances in which this great music was engendered. Praise for BYRD Laudibus in Sanctis The Cardinall’s Musick Complete Byrd Edition Volume 10 CDA67568 GRAMOPHONE AWARD WINNER ‘If, according to Burney, the Mannheim orchestra of 1772 was ‘an army of Generals’, the Cardinall’s Musick of 2006 is surely ‘an exaltation of larks’... Performances of exquisite perfection’ (International Record Review) ‘The 12 voices sing out, individuality intact and ideal for airing the awesome polyphony of Byrd’s Latin motets, both fervent and meditative’ (The Times) ‘This is the tenth disc in the ensemble's complete recordings of Byrd, but the first in the series with Hyperion... [The] engineering gains and the artists’ freshness and conviction make this recording a high-water mark in the project. Carwood has captured the passion, delicacy and complexity of England's greatest Renaissance composer’ (BBC Music Magazine)

Price: $19.98