Name: Byrd: The Great Service
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This is a Great Service of great innovation, but one which lacks the vocal and technical consistency of established Byrd interpretations. — BBC Music Magazine, September 2012, 3 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 28th May 2012
Catalogue No: CHAN0789
Label: Chandos
Series: Chaconne
Length: 67 minutes

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Byrd: Gradualia ac cantiones sacrae, Book 2, RISM A / I. B 5219: No. 39, Constitues eos principes

Work length1:11

$1.00

$1.30

$1.60

English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Simon Ravens
Recorded: 2-4 May 2011
Recording Venue: St John's Church, Upper Norwood, London

Byrd: The Great Service

Work length5:13

$1.00

$1.30

$1.60

Musica Contexta, Simon Ravens, English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Steven Devine
Recorded: 2-4 May 2011
Recording Venue: St John's Church, Upper Norwood, London

I. Venite

Track length5:13

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$1.60

Byrd: Second Preces and Psalms: Psalm 114. When Israel came out of Egypt

Work length1:54

$1.00

$1.30

$1.60

Musica Contexta, Simon Ravens
Recorded: 2-4 May 2011
Recording Venue: St John's Church, Upper Norwood, London

Byrd: The Great Service

Work length18:52

$4.00

$3.90

$4.80

Musica Contexta, Simon Ravens, English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Steven Devine
Recorded: 2-4 May 2011
Recording Venue: St John's Church, Upper Norwood, London

II. Te Deum

Track length9:35

$2.00

$1.95

$2.40

III. Benedictus

Track length9:17

$2.00

$1.95

$2.40

Byrd: Sing joyfully

Work length2:42

$1.00

$1.30

$1.60

Musica Contexta, Simon Ravens, Steven Devine
Recorded: 2-4 May 2011
Recording Venue: St John's Church, Upper Norwood, London

Byrd: Gradualia ac cantiones sacrae, Book 2, RISM A / I. B 5219: No. 38, Nunc scio vere

Work length3:50

$1.00

$1.30

$1.60

English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Simon Ravens
Recorded: 2-4 May 2011
Recording Venue: St John's Church, Upper Norwood, London

Byrd: The Great Service

Work length0:54

$1.00

$1.30

$1.60

Musica Contexta, Simon Ravens, English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Steven Devine
Recorded: 2-4 May 2011
Recording Venue: St John's Church, Upper Norwood, London

IV. Kyrie

Track length0:54

$1.00

$1.30

$1.60

Byrd: Prelude in C Major, T. 517, FVB 24

Work length1:14

$1.00

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$1.60

Steven Devine
Recorded: 2-4 May 2011
Recording Venue: St John's Church, Upper Norwood, London

Byrd: The Great Service

Work length5:37

$1.00

$1.30

$1.60

Musica Contexta, Simon Ravens, English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Steven Devine
Recorded: 2-4 May 2011
Recording Venue: St John's Church, Upper Norwood, London

V. Creed

Track length5:37

$1.00

$1.30

$1.60

Byrd: Gradualia ac cantiones sacrae, Book 2, RISM A / I. B 5219: No. 42, Hodie Simon Petrus

Work length3:34

$1.00

$1.30

$1.60

English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Simon Ravens
Recorded: 2-4 May 2011
Recording Venue: St John's Church, Upper Norwood, London

Byrd: First Preces and Psalms: Psalm 47. O clap your hands together, all ye people

Work length3:11

$1.00

$1.30

$1.60

Musica Contexta, Simon Ravens
Recorded: 2-4 May 2011
Recording Venue: St John's Church, Upper Norwood, London

Byrd: The Great Service

Work length9:27

$2.00

$1.95

$2.40

Musica Contexta, Simon Ravens, English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Steven Devine
Recorded: 2-4 May 2011
Recording Venue: St John's Church, Upper Norwood, London

VI. Magnificat

Track length9:27

$2.00

$1.95

$2.40

Byrd: Verse in C Major

Work length2:05

$1.00

$1.30

$1.60

Steven Devine
Recorded: 2-4 May 2011
Recording Venue: St John's Church, Upper Norwood, London

Byrd: The Great Service

Work length5:02

$1.00

$1.30

$1.60

Musica Contexta, Simon Ravens, English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Steven Devine
Recorded: 2-4 May 2011
Recording Venue: St John's Church, Upper Norwood, London

VII. Nunc Dimittis

Track length5:02

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Byrd: O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth

Work length2:26

$1.00

$1.30

$1.60

Musica Contexta, Simon Ravens
Recorded: 2-4 May 2011
Recording Venue: St John's Church, Upper Norwood, London

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About

Musica Contexta translates literally as ‘music interwoven’, reflecting the group’s primary aim of presenting Renaissance music in the context of its original conception and function. They are joined on this recording by The English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble and the harpsichordist Steven Devine.

The Great Service, consisting of settings of liturgical texts for Matins, Communion, and Evensong, is among the finest music by William Byrd for the Anglican Church. He wrote this grand-scale work for two five-part choirs who, for added contrast, would sing their respective parts facing each other from either side of the church. The size of the choir was used not so much for volume or declamatory effect, as for an extraordinarily rich variety of vocal textures and sonorities.

As well as constantly changing the combination of voices, Byrd was exceptionally inventive in countless other ways, for example by varying the phrase lengths and rhythms, by throwing in unexpected harmonies, and by repeating lines in ever more elaborate ways. The endless variety with which Byrd played with the available combinations gives the Great Service a kaleidoscopic character, which is very rare in late Renaissance music.

The Great Service is a prime example of how the written music only partially plots a Renaissance composer’s intentions for interpreters of today. It is the nature of Renaissance music, as it was written, deliberately to encourage different approaches. In the words of Simon Ravens, the Music Director of Musica Contexta: ‘That which we might consider frustratingly vague, they thought of as an open embrace of the broadest possible church of performers.’

He continues: ‘And although our performance resonates with thoughts of the Chapel Royal, we have not attempted to tie this recording, taken as a whole, to any particular occasion or place: the evidence for us to reconstruct any such event simply does not exist.’ It has been suggested, however, that the whole work may have been written for the fortieth anniversary in 1598 of Queen Elizabeth’s accession.

Reviews

September 2012

This is a Great Service of great innovation, but one which lacks the vocal and technical consistency of established Byrd interpretations.

September 2012

One of the selling points is the use of cornetts and sackbuts to double the voices in the 'full' sections...In fact the presence of the instruments means that there is a sameness about the sound: splendid in its way, but undifferentiated...The other selling point is the use of Elizabethan pronunciation. An interesting experiement on both counts.

21st June 2012

It's a fascinating piece of musical conjecture, even if the textures sometimes seem a little too overripe.

The Independent on Sunday 2nd September 2012

Ravens creates an imagined reconstruction of its performance [at the Chapel Royal]. The result has an almost Iberian flavour but the sense of ceremony, decoration and wealth is powerfully conveyed.

Byrd: The Great Service

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