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Track Listings
| Disc: 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Kyrie | |||
| 2. Gloria | |||
| 3. Credo | |||
| 4. Sanctus & Benedictus | |||
| 5. Agnus Dei | |||
| 6. Kyrie | |||
| 7. Gloria | |||
| 8. Credo | |||
| 9. Sanctus & Benedictus | |||
| 10. Agnus Dei | |||
See all 17 tracks on this disc
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| Disc: 2 | |||
| 1. Vigilate | |||
| 2. Tristitia Et Anxietas | |||
| 3. Ne Irascaris, Domine | |||
| 4. Prevent Us, O Lord | |||
| 5. Venite | |||
| 6. Te Deum | |||
| 7. Benedictus | |||
| 8. Creed | |||
| 9. Magnificat | |||
| 10. Nunc Dimittis | |||
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See all 13 tracks on this disc
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Product Description
Review
Artistic Quality - 10 / 10 Sound Quality - 10 / 10 Few things are as satisfying to a choral music fan as spending an hour or two listening to the Tallis Scholars sing the music of William Byrd. A speciality of this ensemble for more than two decades, Byrd's masses, motets, and anthems are among the greatest sacred choral works of Elizabethan England--and thus the late Renaissance--and their beauty and complexity always seem to inspire these singers to a level of expressive effect that most other choirs never achieve. This two-CD set offers the opportunity to observe the "fundamental difference in outlook between [Byrd's] Protestant and Catholic writing" (in particular The Great Service and the three Masses) and provides an all-in-one source from which to indulge in his best-known and most revered works. If you already own the two-disc set issued in the early-'90s to commemorate the 450th anniversary of Byrd's birth (or you own the original 1984 and 1987 recordings from which that compilation was made), you have most of what's offered here--this new release is taken entirely from existing recordings. The newest material--three motets and an Anglican anthem--comes from a BBC production, "Playing Elizabeth's Tune", that aired a few years ago and is also available as a DVD. Whatever their provenance or recording venue, these performances have stood as reference versions since they were released, combining a rich bass sound with bright, clear treble and carefully balanced interior voices in the very responsive acoustics of places such as Oxford's Merton College Chapel or Tewkesbury Abbey. All that remains to be said is if you love English Renaissance choral music and you don't already have The Tallis Scholars' Byrd in your collection, there's no time like the present to acquire this essential--and now specially priced--set. --classicstoday.com
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is another in the outstanding series of budget reissues of the Tallis Scholars' finest recordings of the last 30 years. It contains the two CDs of Byrd's music recorded in the mid 1980s - their wonderful recordings of the three Masses and of the Great Service. In addition, there are five magnificent motets including the sublime Infelix ego. It is a wonderful collection of music from one of England's very greatest composers, and it also provides a really fascinating insight into the religious upheavals of Tudor times.
Byrd remained a Catholic throughout his life, despite the colossal pressures on Catholics following the Reformation. The first part of this includes Byrd's three settings of the Mass in Latin for Five, Four and Three Voices for Catholic worship. These are sublime, touching works, perhaps written for secret worship. The contrast between these and the Anglican settings in English is very marked, although the Anglican settings are no less musically rewarding. They conform (largely) to the injunction by Cranmer that settings should be one note to a syllable so that the text should be clearly heard, and have a sparer and more declamatory feel. Peter Phillips's commentary on this aspect of the music is, as always, exceptionally penetrating and interesting.
The performances themselves are unsurpassed, in my view, and rivalled only by The Cardinall's Musick's magnificent disc of the Masses Byrd: The Masses - Byrd Edition, Vol 5. Intonation, clarity of line, balance and blend are impeccable and the whole is, as we have come to expect from the Tallis Scholars, simply brilliant and exceptionally beautiful.
At this price for two CDs of superb performances of some of the greatest English music ever written you simply can't go wrong, and I recommend this set wholeheartedly.
Byrd remained a Catholic throughout his life, despite the colossal pressures on Catholics following the Reformation. The first part of this includes Byrd's three settings of the Mass in Latin for Five, Four and Three Voices for Catholic worship. These are sublime, touching works, perhaps written for secret worship. The contrast between these and the Anglican settings in English is very marked, although the Anglican settings are no less musically rewarding. They conform (largely) to the injunction by Cranmer that settings should be one note to a syllable so that the text should be clearly heard, and have a sparer and more declamatory feel. Peter Phillips's commentary on this aspect of the music is, as always, exceptionally penetrating and interesting.
The performances themselves are unsurpassed, in my view, and rivalled only by The Cardinall's Musick's magnificent disc of the Masses Byrd: The Masses - Byrd Edition, Vol 5. Intonation, clarity of line, balance and blend are impeccable and the whole is, as we have come to expect from the Tallis Scholars, simply brilliant and exceptionally beautiful.
At this price for two CDs of superb performances of some of the greatest English music ever written you simply can't go wrong, and I recommend this set wholeheartedly.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
O my God how beautiful these performances are, and how sublime Byrd's music sounds sung by the Tallis Scholars who are definitely inspired to celestial Apollian heights by the music - Byrd's 3 masterpiece Latin masses for the Catholic church written in secret and published without titles in his lifetime, almost as an outlaw under the severe Elizabethian anti-catholic law of his time, and his Anglican Church Great Service work. These two-CD's offer you the opportunity to observe the "fundamental difference in outlook between Byrd's Protestant" writing as evidenced in the outwardly showy writing of the English motets and The Great Service for the Anglican Church and his more complex and intimate and almost mystical writing in the Latin motets and the 3 Latin Masses for the Catholic Church service.
Most of the works on these 2 CD's were first re-issued in the early-'90s to commemorate the 450th anniversary of Byrd's birth, and that re-issue came from the original 1984 and 1987 recordings from which this compilation was made. The only new items on these 2 CD's are three motets and an Anglican anthem which were originally published in a DVD from a BBC production, "Playing Elizabeth's Tune"
These performances are the reference standards and will never be exceeded.
The singing and the years of this group's understanding of this music is exquisite, and unparalleled, with a rich bass sound and bright, clear treble and carefully balanced interior voices in excellent acoustical settings - Oxford's Merton College Chapel or Tewksbury Abbey. I waited TOO LONG to buy this set since I have many other recordings of these works. But this is the ESSENTIAL SET of this music no matter what other recordings you may have, unless you have the original issues from which this re-issue was made.
"Oh my God how beautiful this music is", you'll keeping saying until you fall asleep under the covers and under the spell of the Tallis Scholars and Byrd himself.
Most of the works on these 2 CD's were first re-issued in the early-'90s to commemorate the 450th anniversary of Byrd's birth, and that re-issue came from the original 1984 and 1987 recordings from which this compilation was made. The only new items on these 2 CD's are three motets and an Anglican anthem which were originally published in a DVD from a BBC production, "Playing Elizabeth's Tune"
These performances are the reference standards and will never be exceeded.
The singing and the years of this group's understanding of this music is exquisite, and unparalleled, with a rich bass sound and bright, clear treble and carefully balanced interior voices in excellent acoustical settings - Oxford's Merton College Chapel or Tewksbury Abbey. I waited TOO LONG to buy this set since I have many other recordings of these works. But this is the ESSENTIAL SET of this music no matter what other recordings you may have, unless you have the original issues from which this re-issue was made.
"Oh my God how beautiful this music is", you'll keeping saying until you fall asleep under the covers and under the spell of the Tallis Scholars and Byrd himself.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I have a very personal relation to the Mass for five voices, this music means a lot to me. And so I have my view on how it should sound.
The Tallis Scholars is a great ensemble, no doubt about that. But sometimes all that perfection is in the way for touching performance. In my ears their interpretation is too controlled. For example in the Sanctus of the Five voices mass I would here more flow and shifting sound.
The Tallis Scholars is a great ensemble, no doubt about that. But sometimes all that perfection is in the way for touching performance. In my ears their interpretation is too controlled. For example in the Sanctus of the Five voices mass I would here more flow and shifting sound.
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