This is something of a specialist recording, using musicological writings (including some by the celebrated Joseph Kerman, rounding out his career with Byrd where he began) to flesh out the picture of Byrd's music as a reflection of the sorts of underground Catholic activities that, in the extreme, manifested themselves in the Gunpowder Plot. What such writings reveal is the intricate connection between Byrd's musical choices and the activities of specific groups, such as the Jesuits. The fit between the program and the ...
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This is something of a specialist recording, using musicological writings (including some by the celebrated Joseph Kerman, rounding out his career with Byrd where he began) to flesh out the picture of Byrd's music as a reflection of the sorts of underground Catholic activities that, in the extreme, manifested themselves in the Gunpowder Plot. What such writings reveal is the intricate connection between Byrd's musical choices and the activities of specific groups, such as the Jesuits. The fit between the program and the booklet isn't perfect, and a double disc in this case might have done more to illustrate some of the more complex ideas. The music comes from the Gradualia, a large and comparatively rarely performed set of mass propers that can be traced to specific occasions, and the program offers just a small sample of that cycle. But there's plenty here to interest the general listener who has strained to hear the supposed underground qualities in Byrd's masses and been frustrated. The small...
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