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Track(s) taken from SIGCD338

Miserere mei, Deus

composer
5vv; Cantiones Sacrae 1591 xx
author of text
Psalm 50 (51): 1

Contrapunctus, Owen Rees (conductor)
Recording details: November 2012
Church of St Michael and All Angels, Oxford, United Kingdom
Produced by Adrian Peacock
Engineered by David Hinitt
Release date: July 2013
Total duration: 3 minutes 20 seconds
 

Other recordings available for download

The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood (conductor)
The Gesualdo Six, Owain Park (director)
The Cambridge Singers, John Rutter (conductor)

Reviews

'This debut recording by the clean-voiced and agile Contrapunctus ensemble includes a genuine discovery, perhaps expected when scholar/conductor Owen Rees is in charge. Rees has built a reputation as a seeker-out of lost choral glories of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and here reveals a 'new' work by Thomas Tallis. Previously thought to be an instrumental piece marked simply 'Libera', Rees makes a convincing case that its underpinning is the plainchant antiphon, Libera nos, salva nos, indicating that Tallis intended it for voices. The choir sings it and works by Byrd, Philippe de Monte, Pedro de Cristo and Martin Peerson with admirable, firm-toned fluidity. More, please' (The Observer)

'Owen Rees's vocal ensemble Contrapunctus here presents a programme of Renaissance polyphony ingeniously employing lamentations for the subjugation of Jerusalem as code expressions of the plight of both English Catholics under Protestant rule, and Portuguese oppressed by Spanish hegemony. It's a rich seam of material by such as Tallis, Byrd and Cardoso. The theme is most evocatively summarised in the line from Psalm 136, How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?This forms the root both of Philippe de Monte's enchanting eight-voice motet setting of Super Flumina Babylonis, and William Byrd's equally exquisite response, Quomodo Cantabimus' (The Independent)

Thanks to the efforts of editors in the twentieth century some of Byrd’s works have become well established gems of the repertory. One such is the five-part Miserere mei, Deus. A clear homophonic opening asking for mercy moves quickly into beautiful imitation. The text contains several words which seem to elicit particularly powerful melodies from Byrd, especially ‘iniquitatem’ (‘wrong-doing’) and ‘misericordiam’ (‘mercy’); indeed the melody of this latter word was one that he was to take forward and use in the monumental Infelix ego.

from notes by Andrew Carwood © 2009

Grâce aux efforts d’éditeurs du XXe siècle, certaines œuvres de Byrd sont devenues de véritables joyaux du répertoire. Ainsi le Miserere mei, Deus à cinq parties, dont la limpide ouverture homophone implorant la miséricorde se mue rapidement en une splendide imitation. Le texte recèle plusieurs mots qui semblent arracher à Byrd des mélodies particulièrement puissantes, surtout «iniquitatem» («iniquité») et «misericordiam» («miséricorde»)—de fait, la mélodie entendue à ce mot sera mise en avant dans le monumental Infelix ego.

extrait des notes rédigées par Andrew Carwood © 2009
Français: Hypérion

Dank der Bemühungen mehrerer Herausgeber des 20. Jahrhunderts gehören einige Werke Byrds nun zum Grundrepertoire. Eins dieser Werke ist das fünfstimmige Miserere mei, Deus. Ein klarer homophoner Anfang bittet um Gnade und geht dann schnell in wunderschöne Imitation über. Der Text enthält mehrere Worte, die Byrd besonders großartige Melodien zu entlocken scheinen, so etwa „iniquitatem“ („Missetaten“) und „misericordiam“ („Gnade“); die Melodie dieses letzteren Wortes nahm er sogar später wieder auf und verwendete sie in dem monumentalen Infelix ego.

aus dem Begleittext von Andrew Carwood © 2009
Deutsch: Viola Scheffel

Other albums featuring this work

Byrd: Hodie Simon Petrus & other sacred music
CDA67653
English Motets
Studio Master: CDA68256Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
Faire is the Heaven
COLCD107Download only
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