William Byrd: The Complete Keyboard Music

Davitt Moroney, harpsichords, muselar virginal, chamber organ, clavichord, Ahrend organ of l’Église-Musée des Augustins, Toulouse

William Byrd (1539/40–1623)

The Gramophone Award-winning artist Davitt Moroney spent more than fifteen years planning this unique and momentous project. As an authentic complete survey of this music, six different instruments were used for the recording—two different harpsichords, muselar virginal, clavichord, chamber organ, and the Ahrend organ at L’Église-Musée des Augustins, Toulouse, France (where the huge and high navecreates an echo that lasts for nearly fifteen seconds, not unlike the acoustic at Lincoln Cathedral where Byrd was the organist and master of the choristers). Gramophone Award Winner; Classic CD 100 Greatest Disc of the Decade; Preis der Deutchesn Schallplattenkritik
‘Surely definitive and a triumph for all concerned … the quality of the interpretation flows flawlessly throughout the series … probably the most significant issue I have yet reviewed. There are so many glorious details in his playing that it is hard to know where to begin in its praise’ (Gramophone)
‘The production values beggar description. Absolutely stunning. A landmark release as musically eloquent as it is scholastically fastidious’ (Classic CD)
‘In his 100-page essay on William Byrd, Moroney argues forcefully that the 56 pavans and galliards deserve to be ranked with the 48 preludes and fugues of Bach and the 32 sonatas of Beethoven. And on the strength of his superb playing of a rich array of contrasting instruments, the case for Byrd as one of the great keyboard composers is more than justified: the extraordinary spectrum of influences from which the Elizabethan composer took his inspiration suggests a genius as versatile as the great baroque and classical masters. This marvellous set—recorded painstakingly over six years and only now released as an integral edition — provides invaluable insight into this relatively neglected aspect of Byrd’s prolific output. Moroney is as convincing on the organ—using 17th-century instruments or copies, but without the pedals that Byrd would not have known—as he is on the harpsichord, clavicord and virginals. A monument in the history of early-music recording’ (The Sunday Times)
‘This is a truly landmark recording’ (The New Statesman)
‘If you have any interest at all in Byrd, keyboard music, English culture, or, indeed, music of any sort, buy this set’ (Early Music Review)
‘In 25 years of reviewing I haven’t come across anything of such importance, substance and consistent musicianship’ (BBC CD Review)
‘Affectionate, stylish, catchy, sophisticated and virtuosic, a feast of a lifetime’ (Classic FM Magazine)
‘A triumph. Surely the definitive account for the foreseeable future’ (BBC Music Magazine)
‘One of the great monuments of recording in recent years, an issue that demands a place in every Byrd collection’ (Goldberg)

Price: $62.98