Armada. Music fron the courts of Philip II and Elizabeth I. Fretwork. Michael Chance, Counter-tenor

In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the consort of viols was a common instrumental ensemble in England. The two forms that dominated English consort music were fantasias, a free flowing form, and works based on chant themes. While there were similar traditions in Spanish music, the Iberian style relied more on improvisation and consequently many of the Spanish tunes were never notated. This two-disc set by the English viol consort, Fretwork, explores music from the courts of Elizabeth I of England and Philip II of Spain. The second disc in the set explores the consort tradition in the late Tudor and early Stuart age.
English consort music reached its zenith during the reign of Elizabeth I, and probably no other composer of the English school of this era achieved such glorious results as William Byrd. Byrd is well represented on this recording by such marvelous tunes as 'The Carman's Whistle' and 'In Angel's Weed,' but the best of all is countertenor Michael Chance's singing of Byrd's glorious song "Rejoice unto the Lord."
The Spanish music is equally well performed by Fretwork and some guest artists. Harpsichordist Paul Nicholson is most impressive in a haunting work by Hernando de Cabezón called 'Dulce Memoria.'

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Gesualdo has become an almost mythical figure - the mad Italian prince who murdered his wife and her lover, and who wrote music that wouldn't be appreciated until the 20th Century. Like most myths, this one is nonsense based on facts. Gesualdo was a prince, with the fiscal resources to live his life as he chose, and he chose to compose. He did murder his adulterous wife in 1590, or hired thugs to do it, and fled to his castle in Venosa, not to flee the law but to escape a possible vendetta. His peers probably thought that the murder was necessary to defend his honor and that the couple got what they deserved. This was in Naples, remember. Just three years later, Gesualdo married again, to a daughter of the elevated D'Este family. For that wedding, he traveled to Ferrara, one of the most active musical cities in Italy, where the composer Luzzasco Luzzaschi was busy composing advanced madrigals for the "Three Ladies", famous virtuoso singers of the Ferrara court.

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This 68-minute program--a compilation of recordings made by Jordi Savall, Montserrat Figueras & Co. during the years 1976 and 2008 (including several selections originally released on dhm and Virgin Classics)--proved one of those purely pleasurable, effortlessly rewarding listening sessions that only rarely come along. We don't often review compilations drawn from multiple recordings made in different venues and over many years--they're so often programmatically disjointed and sonically varied; but in this case it doesn't matter. The music is compatible stylistically and these performers are so consistent in the quality and care and vitality of their performances that, well, what's 30 years or so? ... [8/4/2022] --David Vernier

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Vivanco was born in Ávila, like Tomás Luis de Victoria; however, the exact date of his birth is unknown. It is hypothesized that he was born a few years after Victoria and that they both knew each other as children and sang together at the chapel of the Cathedral of Ávila. During the time that Vivanco sang in the chorus, the maestri di cappella were Gerónimo de Espinar, Bernardino de Ribera (1559) and Juán Navarro (1563). This last composer had the most profound influence on Vivanco. After 1566, with the change in his voice, Vivanco commenced studies as a priest, as Victoria had done.

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"Unlike McCreesh's Venetian collections, this programme casts its chronological net very wide, from Josquin to Frescobaldi, performing each work as seventeenth-century Romans are thought to have done. So while Josquin and Victoria are sung a cappella, the Hodie Christus natus est Mass is done up with organs and chittaroni (in the motet, cornet and violin are thrown in for good measure), sounding more dramatic and dance-like than Palestrina has ever done on record—a refreshing change. This represents a shifting attitude to High-Renaissance polyphony, a break with the vibrato-less, restrained style which seems to be the norm. The approach is unapologetically choral rather than soloistic, and yet dynamic contrasts are boldly and resourcefully exploited. In fact the singing is almost Italianate—could this be the surroundings? The instrumental pieces are handled with customary panache, the Frescobaldi organ toccatas offering reflective interludes amid the festive opulence. A most illuminating issue." -- Gramophone

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CORONA SPINEA is Taverner's longest Mass and a liturgical curiosity. Its plainsong cantus firmus (placed in the tenor) has never been identified, but the title implies that it was written for the feast of the Crown of Thorns, a rare event in England. As usual with Tudor festal Masses, the Kyrie is not set. The four remaining movements are of roughly equal length. Each consists of sections from two to four voices in various combinations, punctuated by passages for the full six-part choir. Taverner's choir at Cardinal College had sixteen boys and twelve men. The present choir of Christ Church Cathedral numbers sixteen boys and thirteen men. These performances, given by a choir of virtually identical size and composition to Taverner's own, and recorded in the building where he worked during the most fruitful part of his life, are therefore of unusual historical interest.

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Giovanni Maria Trabaci (ca. 1575 – 31 December 2021) was one of the most interesting Italian composers of the 17th century. Having started out life as a tenor and organist, and in the latter role held some the most important roles in Italian churches. He was to become a major composer of sacred music, including masses, motets, psalm and hymn settings. Of his personal life we know very little, apart from the fact that he was the benefactor of financial support from the Royal family of Spain, which did allow him the time to devote to writing a modest amount of keyboard scores, also suitable for performance by instrumental ensembles. They demonstrate a composer who was an experimentalist of his time, many of his scores surpassing anything composed to that date.

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Corteccia's sacred music includes settings of the Lamentations of Jeremiah (lost), hymns, and many motets. While he wrote most of this music early in his career, the bulk of it was not published until 1570 and 1571, in Venice, possibly due to the lack of publishing capacity in Florence prior to that time.[3] Corteccia wrote a letter for the dedication of the several volumes of motets, and in it indicated that he had been working on them and refining them for 30 years. Many of the modifications he made were in keeping with the liturgical reforms of the Council of Trent

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It's not easy to conceive and successfully impose a concert-performance dynamic on the formal, square structures of Tallis' Psalm-tune settings, bringing an air of excitement to these essentially functional church pieces. In most circumstances these works merely sound, well, like formal and square hymns, albeit very well crafted with strong, sturdy melodies and occasionally interesting harmony. But if you've been paying attention to the choral music scene lately, you know to expect that Stile Antico--a conductorless British ensemble of 13 (or so) young singers--is more than capable of giving exciting new life to old music, and that's exactly what we get here. There's energy and vitality in the singing that gives unusual substance and power to these very short (most around one minute or less), text-centered settings. Of course, it was a very good programming idea to intersperse the brief Psalm-tunes with some of William Byrd's most substantial motets. Ne irascaris Domine, Infelix ego, Laetentur coeli, and Tribulationes civitatum stand among Byrd's greatest works--indeed, among the most valued treasures of choral music. As such, they are oft-performed and recorded--and not surprisingly Stile Antico's renditions join with the very best in the catalog. Although I'm not so much a fan of this ensemble's very slow tempo for Ne irascaris, these singers certainly have the control to generate and sustain the necessary momentum--and the beautifully-wrought ending (a trademark of this group!) negates all earlier reservations regarding tempo. Laetentur coeli (no holding back here!) is a highlight worthy of special mention--an example of both Stile Antico's remarkable ensemble balance and sensitive linear interplay and the exceptionally complementary sound that captures these details so clearly and vibrantly. Not to be missed! -- David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com "Stile Antico's disc displays an ingeniously programmed alternation of exquisitely simple psalm settings by Tallis alongside some of the most brilliantly and richly polyphonic works by Byrd. The most striking feature of these performances is how wonderfully varied they are. In some pieces –- Byrd’s Vigilate for example, with its imitation of a cock crowing in the middle of the night -– the presentational style almost enters the realm of musical theatre, while in Tallis’ God Grant with Grace the utterly still and simple display of the music is transporting. In their overall sense of form and local nuance this group has something that so many other ensembles noticeably lack.” -- Anthony Pryer, BBC MUSIC Magazine (March 2008)

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The Flemish composer Adrian Willaert deserves wider recognition. A student of Jean Mouton, he made his name as a singer in the service of Cardinal Ippolito I d’Este and reached the height of his career as maestro di cappella at San Marco in Venice. Willaert was one of the key figures in the ascendency of 16th century Venetian music and his students included such luminaries as Ciprian de Rore and Andrea Gabrieli. Many of Willaert’s sacred works were ground breakers in the development of music for double choir, so it’s no surprise that what Willaert we have on recordings is mostly sacred music. But wait, there’s more! Willaert also composed chansons and madrigals and it’s his collection of Musica Nova madrigals that we have on this excellent recording by Singer Pur. Written around 1540, the Musica Nova collection is comprised of 25 madrigals that are scored for four to seven voices and are set to texts by Petrarch. This is serious music and showcase Willaert’s remarkably expressive style. Willaert’s writing is subtle and filled with delicate shifts in color and rhythm that draw the listener in. This is dense music and its subtleties require careful attention. They also require careful attention from the singers and that’s what makes these winning performances. Singer Pur, a German group comprised of a soprano, three tenors, baritone, bass (the male singers were all choir boys in the Regensburger Domspatzen) and, for this recording, a guest countertenor sing brilliantly. I’ve become a big fan of the ensemble since I first heard their Factor Orbis (Ars Musici 232226) a terrific program of Renaissance sacred music. This music must be sung with precision and Singer Pur consistently delivers the goods with performances that are highly musical and technically polished. Take these madrigals in small servings because they are rich indeed, but the rewards are enormous. If there is any justice this recording will catapult this ensemble to greater recognition and set them on a path that explores more of the lesser-known madrigalists. For that matter, I hope they also take a shot at Willaert’s marvelous motets too.

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