The Choir of Gonville & Caius

NOTE: All of the music on this program is from the The Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. For complete information:

www.gonvilleandcaiuschoir.com/

I. Haec Dies: Byrd & the Tudor Revival (Delphian CDDCD34104).

This recording celebrates our constant re-invention of the musical past. Despite the great efforts of many musicians during the last century to discover how old music may originally have sounded, the great musical achievements of long-dead composers can never be heard again exactly how they originally sounded, or understood in the context for which they were conceived. But British musicians will always return to the music of the Tudor period in particular, and be inspired either to perform the music in one way or another, or to seek inspiration for new music based on the methods and aesthetic goals of this unsurpassed national repertoire. In this recording Byrd's Mass for Five Voices is surrounded by music belonging in various ways to the Tudor Music revival of the early twentieth century. There is no attempt made here to perform the vocal music of Byrd in the manner in which it was performed either in the Tudor period or in the early twentieth century; however, two performances are included that fall under the banner of 'historically-informed performance' but in an unusual way: two Tudor compositions are played on the organ in a way that seeks to recreate not the manner in which they may have been originally performed, but in the way that they were often performed in the early twentieth century.

II. Phillips & Daring: Motets. (Linn CD CKD 717).

This new recording offers a fresh insight into the lives and works of two expatriate English Catholic composers exiled to Flanders at the time of the Reformation. Peter Philips and Richard Dering both travelled widely in Europe and their music displays a variety of religious and musical influences picked up along the way. The texts speak with a directness and intensity, deeply affected by this period of religious and artistic turbulence. As a celebrated choral composer in his own right, Matthew demonstrates a masterful grasp of these works, many of which receive their first recording here. The unique combination of instruments from the period instrument ensemble In Echo also serve to add intensity and colour to this most sophisticated music of the Late Renaissance.

From Gramophone: The idea of putting Dering and Philips together is obvious enough: two English composers who landed up on the Continental mainland and produced Catholic music in a style that is an odd mixture of English and Italian. Thirty years ago Stephen Cleobury with King’s College, Cambridge, did just that, cleverly juxtaposing settings of the same text or something similar. And more recently the Rose Consort of Viols did so again, with a focus on their consort music but also joining up with The Choir of King’s College, Aberdeen. But what the choir of Gonville & Caius College (just under 30 voices, though with women as well as men) offer is something rather different. They have joined forces with the mixed consort In Echo, brainchild of the astonishing cornettist Gawain Glenton, with cornetts, trombones and bowed instruments.

Under the marvellously well-judged direction of Matthew Martin, they perform almost everything with full forces, lots of seriously attractive embellishment and even more evidence of sheer musical fun. But the main feature of their performance is that there is so much space around the phrases: everything seems fresh and vital. Alongside the Latin motets of both composers (never in fewer than five voices and often in eight) there are consort works by the two. There is also a pavan by Dowland, which is not explained, though perhaps the connection is that he too spent some years abroad. In any case, In Echo perform it with such infectious joy that one could not for a moment regret that decision. The disc comes with an informative booklet note by Jeremy Summerly.