Recordings
William Byrd - Cantiones Sacrae 1575
Total Playing time: 63'37'' DDD
Recorded in New College Chapel, Oxford, 11-13 July 1994
Released 1996
CRD 3492
The publication of the 'Cantiones, quae ab argumento sacrae vocantur' in 1575 is regarded today as a landmark in the history of English music printing. The most ambitious music to be published by Tallis, and the first by his pupil Byrd, the Cantiones are scored for five or six (or more) voices, and they embrace a wide range of styles and techniques. The two composers each contributed seventeen items to the volume. This recording includes ten of the seventeen by Byrd (the three parts of Tribue Domine are listed separately in the index of the Cantiones, and so that one motet accounts for three items). On this recording, the vocal music is interspersed with three of Byrd's keyboard pieces.