Byrd / Britten

 
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WILLIAM BYRD / BENJAMIN BRITTEN
Byrd / Britten
The Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge, Mark Williams (director)

[ Signum / CD ]

Release Date: Friday 24 February 2017

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Led by Mark Williams, the Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge continue their critically-praised series of recordings on Signum with this new recording of works by British composers Britten and Byrd.


William Byrd and Benjamin Britten, their respective careers separated by about three hundred and fifty years, share one very significant characteristic. They were both, in quite different ways, outsiders.

As a devout Catholic existing within an alien environment - a state which ultimately viewed Catholicism as the equivalent of sedition - Byrd was obliged to pursue a kind of double life, expressing his spiritual exile in music of emotional intensity. Like Byrd, Britten became highly regarded by the establishment for his artistic achievements, but reservations regarding his homosexuality prevented his complete acceptance. Both his pacifism and his sexual orientation made him an outsider.

"Byrd's scraping harmonies often sound no older than Britten's.The singing of Jesus Cambridge isn't always sharply defined but it is warm and breathy, topped by excellent boy choristers and best in stately slow music such as Byrd's Ave Verum Corpus." (Guardian)

"a focused, sparkling performance" (BBC Music)

"A richly satisfying programme that shows the music and the performers to great effect… A disc well worth investigating" Choir & Organ

Tracks:

Britten:
Missa Brevis in D major, Op. 63
Te Deum in C
Antiphon, Op. 56b
Jubilate Deo in C major (1961)
A Hymn of Saint Columba
Hymn to St. Peter, Op. 56a

Byrd:
Nunc dimittis
O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth
Ave verum Corpus
Laudibus in sanctis
Praise our Lord, all ye Gentiles
The Queen's Alman
Quomodo cantabimus