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Track(s) taken from CDA67675

Ave Maria

composer
5vv; Gradualia 1605 I:xiv
author of text
Antiphon for the Blessed Virgin Mary; Offertory at Mass for the Annunciation to the Virgin

The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood (conductor)
Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
CD-Quality:
Studio Master:
CD-Quality:
Studio Master:
Recording details: November 2008
Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, United Kingdom
Produced by Jonathan Freeman-Attwood
Engineered by Martin Haskell & Iestyn Rees
Release date: September 2009
Total duration: 1 minutes 45 seconds

Cover artwork: The Death of the Virgin (Ms Fr 71 fol.11). Jean Fouquet (c1420-1480)
Musée Condé, Chantilly, France / Giraudon / Bridgeman Images
 

Other recordings available for download

The Gesualdo Six, Owain Park (director)

Reviews

‘Some of the three-part hymns are masterly in their technical assurance, setting the voices free to wander and with the lightness of touch recalling them to the fold for a cadence … exquisitely wrought … to the singers and their director is due an additional hymn of praise’ (Gramophone)

‘Some of Byrd's best writing, with complex imitation enlived by madrigal-style word settings. The Cardinall's Musick seize on the subtleties and expressiveness of these settings … the inventiveness and depth of this recording outweigh its rare longeurs’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘Sublime music, then, an inspired and inspiring director and a series that Hyperion rescued from another label and has persevered with against all odds’ (International Record Review)

‘The Cardinall's Musick under Andrew Carwood show the deep feeling as well as the dignity of these illicit and originally secret settings’ (The Independent on Sunday)

‘The Cardinall's Musick continues its odyssey through Byrd's vocal output … the singing here is clean and balanced, with no attempt to make women's voices resemble those of boys’ (The Sunday Times)

‘Carwood has given us a series of Byrd recordings that will be a monument when he has finished, and this is a worthy part of the series… don’t wait to add this to our collection’ (Fanfare, USA)
Byrd’s 1605 setting of the Ave Maria is perhaps a little more doleful than might be expected from a work beginning ‘Hail Mary’. It almost feels as if the composer is holding a reverential ‘image’ at arm’s length, luring us to touch the painting behind the barrier, but allowing us only a fleeting glimpse. The closing ‘Alleluia’ is particularly reserved, starting in the top voice as if gently suspended above.

from notes by Owain Park © 2023

Other albums featuring this work

Byrd: Mass for five voices & other works
Studio Master: CDA68416Studio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available
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