The Spy’s Choirbook - Obsidian Records: CD712 - 2 CDs or download | Presto Classical

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Skinner's scholarly expertise both strengthens and weakens his conducting. Cadences, modal shifts and points of imitation steer his reading. Especially when the English Cornett & Sackbutt Ensemble... — BBC Music Magazine, January 2015, More…

Release Date: 29th Sep 2014
Catalogue No: CD712
Label: Obsidian Records
Length: 1 hour 54 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

January 2015

Editor's Choice
Presto Recordings of the Year

Finalist 2014
Gramophone Awards

2015

Winner - Early Music

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Contents

Mouton, J: Celeste beneficium

3:24

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Alamire, English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Févin: Adiutorium Nostrum

3:08

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Alamire, English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

anon.: Nesciens mater

3:14

$1.05

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Rue, P: Ave regina caelorum

3:04

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Despres: Descendi in hortum meum

3:20

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Févin: Sancta trinitas unus Deus

3:14

$1.05

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Rue, P: Vexilla Regis - Passio Domini nostri

2:05

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Despres: Fama malum

2:44

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Rue, P: Quis dabit pacem: Doleo super te

2:49

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

anon.: O Domine Iesu Christe / Et sanctissima mater tua

3:57

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Show 24 remaining works on this recording

anon.: Maxsimilla Christo amabilis

2:22

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Strus: Sancta Maria succurre miseris / O werder mondt

3:25

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Alamire, English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

anon.: Sancta et immaculata virginitas

2:05

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Despres: Missus est Gabriel angelus

3:02

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

anon.: Dulcissima virgo Maria

2:23

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

anon.: Tolca purche es - Salve regina

4:03

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

anon.: O sancta Maria virgo virginum

3:36

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English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Pierrequin de Therache: Verbum bonum et soave

3:02

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

anon.: Recordamini quomodo praedixit filium

4:00

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English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

anon.: O beatissime Domine Iesu Christe - Fac me de tua gratia

5:14

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

anon.: Ave sanctissima Maria

3:45

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Mouton, J: Ecce Maria genuit nobis

2:36

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

anon.: Congratulamini mihi omnes

3:04

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English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Févin: Egregie Christi martir Christophore - Ecce enim

5:33

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Alamire, English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

anon.: Alma Redemptoris Mater

4:36

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English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

anon.: Dulces exuviae

3:27

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Agricola, A: Dulces exuviae

3:47

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Despres: Dulces exuviae

3:25

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Mouton, J: Dulces exuviae

3:11

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Ghiselin: Dulces exuviae

3:17

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Despres: Absalon Fili Mi

3:56

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

anon.: Iesus autem transiens

2:19

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English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Isaac: Anima mea - Invenerunt - Filiae Ierusalem

5:08

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Alamire
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

Despres: Tribulatio et angustia invenerunt me

2:36

$1.05

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Alamire, English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble
David Skinner
Recorded: 4–8 February 2014
Recording Venue: Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England

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About
Reviews
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About

Among the musical treasures in the British Library is MS Royal 8.g.vii, a sumptuous choirbook prepared for Henry VIII and his first queen Catherine of Aragon. It was produced by Petrus Alamire, who not only headed one of the finest musical scriptoriums of the age but acted as a spy for Henry against Richard de la Pole, a Plantagenet claimant to the English throne.

The choirbook, gifted to the royal couple in around 1516, contains 34 motets, many of them unique to this manuscript and includes masterworks by the leading French and Franco-Flemish composers of the age including Josquin Desprez, Jean Mouton, Heinrich Isaac, Antoine de Févin, and Pierre de la Rue.

Reviews

January 2015

Skinner's scholarly expertise both strengthens and weakens his conducting. Cadences, modal shifts and points of imitation steer his reading. Especially when the English Cornett & Sackbutt Ensemble joins the voices, Skinner illuminates the sophistication of Franco-Flemish motet writing.

January 2015

34 four-voice motets from the first decade of the century by French and Franco-Flemish composers, giving a magnificent panorama of the repertory. Most of them have never been recorded before. Most of the music is performed by mixed voices alone, a small group sounding gorgeous throughout.

23rd October 2014

The performances are meticulous, the recorded sound rich and warm, and the effect often sumptuous, though at times perhaps a bit too dense for some tastes

11th October 2014

Teasing title, glorious music...The history is fascinating; so is the fabulous music, a tour d’horizon of early 16th-century polyphony, sonorously delivered by the choir Alamire and English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble under David Skinner.