Byrd: The Great Service

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, More…

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

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Byrd: Gradualia, Book 2 (arr. for brass ensemble)

1:12

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

Gradualia, Book 2 (arr. for brass ensemble): Constitues eos

1:12

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Byrd: The Great Service

5:13

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

The Great Service: Venite

5:13

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Byrd: Second Preces and Psalms

1:54

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

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

1:54

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The Great Service

18:52

$4.00

$4.80

$7.00

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

The Great Service: Te Deum

9:35

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The Great Service: Benedictus

9:17

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Byrd: Sing joyfully

2:42

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

Sing Joyfully unto God Our Strength

2:42

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Gradualia, Book 2 (arr. for brass ensemble)

3:50

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

Gradualia, Book 2 (arr. for brass ensemble): Nunc scio vere

3:50

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The Great Service

0:54

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

The Great Service: Kyrie

0:54

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Byrd: Prelude in C

1:14

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

The Great Service

5:37

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$1.75

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

The Great Service: Creed

5:37

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Gradualia, Book 2 (arr. for brass ensemble)

3:34

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

Gradualia, Book 2 (arr. for brass ensemble): Hodie Simon Petrus

3:34

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Byrd: First Preces and Psalms

3:11

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

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

3:11

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The Great Service

9:27

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

The Great Service: Magnificat

9:27

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Byrd: Verse in C Major

2:05

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

The Great Service

5:02

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

The Great Service: Nunc dimittis

5:02

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Byrd: O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth

2:29

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

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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.

Offer, Byrd: The Great Service

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