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CDA66837
Archive Service Only


Recording details: November 1995
Winchester Cathedral, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard
Release date: June 1996
Total duration: 72 minutes 22 seconds

'Le choeur de Winchester est'd'une infinie souplesse, d'une clarté d'élocution et d'une transparence remarquables, justement restituées par une prise de son limpide. Des pages parmi les plus grandes de William Byrd, servies par une interprétation du plus haut niveau' (Répertoire, France)

'A generously full CD, spaciously recorded in Winchester Cathedral. The main feature is the rapt, joyous singing of the choir in this magnificent music. Very fine' (Hi Fi News)

Byrd: Mass for five voices
with Propers for the Feast of Corpus Christi
Winchester Cathedral Choir, David Hill (conductor)
LISTEN TO ALL EXTRACTS
1
Ego sum panis vivus  [2'32]  William Byrd (1539/40-1623)
2
Cibavit eos  [3'55]  William Byrd (1539/40-1623)
Mass for five voices  William Byrd (1539/40-1623)
3
Movement 1: Kyrie  [1'35]
4
Movement 2: Gloria  [4'46]
5
Oculi omnium  [4'50]  William Byrd (1539/40-1623)
6
Lauda Sion salvatorem  [6'17]  Anonymous - Medieval
Mass for five voices  William Byrd (1539/40-1623)
7
Movement 3: Credo  [9'08]
8
Sacerdotes Domini  [1'34]  William Byrd (1539/40-1623)
Mass for five voices  William Byrd (1539/40-1623)
9
Movement 4: Sanctus  [2'10]
10
Movement 5: Benedictus  [1'33]
11
Movement 6: Agnus Dei  [4'35]
12
Quotiescunque manducabitis  [3'30]  William Byrd (1539/40-1623)
13
Pange lingua  [3'23]  Anonymous - Medieval
14
Ab ortu solis  [6'17]  William Byrd (1539/40-1623)
15
Alleluia. Cognoverunt discipuli  [4'15]  William Byrd (1539/40-1623)
16
O sacrum convivium  [3'51]  William Byrd (1539/40-1623)
17
O salutaris hostia  [3'38]  William Byrd (1539/40-1623)
18
Ave verum corpus  [4'33]  William Byrd (1539/40-1623)

William Byrd, together with Thomas Tallis as the joint holders of the Royal monopoly for printing music, was given free rein to compose sacred music for the Roman liturgy despite Elizabeth I being in principle opposed to such practice. The resulting works are masterpieces of the age, and the Mass for Five Voices, with its unashamedly Catholic presentation of the words, is the last and most beautiful of the three settings he made of this text.

The Mass is here presented in a 'liturgical' setting with the Propers for the Feast of Corpus Christi. Also included are six further works with connections to this period of the church's year.