William Byrd was one of the greatest composers of the Renaissance. He was widely admired in his own time both at home and abroad and the influence he had on future generations of composers was immense. This programme explores the music of his influences, his colleagues and his pervading faith. In his 400th anniversary year, Byrd’s legacy is marked by the commission of two new pieces from acclaimed composer Dobrinka Tabakova, bringing his musical heritage firmly into the modern day. The two premieres, Arise Lord into thy rest and Turn our captivity, highlight the beauty of modern polyphony and showcase The Sixteen in a new light. The programme also features works by Van Wilder, de Monte, Clemens Non Papa and, of course, Byrd himself.

William Byrd (c.1540-1623) was an English composer who wrote in every genre prevalent in his day and displayed proficiency in each musical category he attempted. Whether it was sacred or secular vocal music, his consort writing for viols, or his music for the keyboard, Byrd was a supreme musical architect. His writing reached the height of musical sophistication in England during his lifetime. In Byrd's day, virginals, harpsichords and all manner of plucked-string keyboard instruments were widely played throughout England. Organs, both large and small, were also in wide use throughout the country. Byrd held an important position as organist at Lincoln Cathedral, and it is certain he would have played many of his keyboard compositions on the organ. Like his contemporaries, he rarely specified the particular keyboard instrument to be used. The uncomplicated reality of the period was that players simply used what was available to them at the time. Byrd's keyboard compositions fall broadly into four categories: fantasias, settings of popular songs, variations, and dance pieces. The middle half of the 16th century saw this first genre evolve from a work for lute or viol consort into a keyboard piece. The developing Tudor fantasia featured continuous imitation, rapid figurations and hitherto unknown displays of virtuosity. Above all, it was keyboard writing which was decisively idiomatic. Byrd's compositions of this type are sectionalized works and are, more often than not, somewhat formulaic. Customarily beginning in the style of a cantus firmus choral motet with long note values, musical ideas are exposed and heard in various registers of the keyboard. This was typically followed by an answering phrase with shorter note values and a sharply contrasted character. New ideas continue to emerge and the writing becomes increasingly more complex and virtuosic. There is habitually a tripla section and a codetta notable for it's brilliant scalic writing. Thus, the Byrd fantasia is a clever and distinctive amalgam of the ancient motet style, with it's overlapping entries, and the emerging features of idiomatic keyboard writing formulas. His unique approach to rhythm, which puts his keyboard music in a class of it's own, features cross-rhythms, hemiolas, polyrhythms, frequent changes of meters, outrageous syncopation and even jaunty jig-like episodes. Other information: - Recorded April 2024 at the University of Birmingham - Booklet in English contains liner notes by the organist, a description of the organ with stop list, and a profile of the artist - William Byrd was an English composer of late Renaissance music. Considered among the greatest composers of the Renaissance, he had a profound influence on composers both from his native England and on the continent. On his death, he was reported in the records of the Chapel Royal as 'father of Music'. He wrote in many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, keyboard (the so-called Virginalist school), and consort music. - Unlike the more formal structures of his contemporaries, Byrd's Organ Fantasias exhibit freedom and fluidity, often moving between contrasting sections that vary in texture, tempo, and mood. This variety allows the pieces to shift from reflective, meditative passages to lively, rhythmic episodes, creating a dynamic and engaging listening experience. Byrd's use of dissonance, chromaticism, and unusual harmonies gives his fantasias a unique emotional depth, setting them apart from other keyboard works of the time. - It would be difficult to think of an instrument in the United Kingdom today better suited to William Byrd's music than the St Telio organ in the vicinity of Cardiff, Wales. Built by the English organ builders Martin Goetze and Dominic Gwynn in 2001, this chamber instrument is based on a remarkable discovery - a soundboard unearthed in 1977 in Suffolk. It's pipes are constructed on the only pipes surviving from the mediaeval West Country tradition from John Loosemore's 1665 organ for Nettlecombe Court. The extremely narrow scaling produces a sound which is surprisingly rich with a somewhat sibilant trait. It works with hand-operated bellows. This gives rise to very subtle surges and dips in sound pressure and volume as well as the occasional rattle and creak, adding an extra layer of authenticity. - Jangoo Chapkhana is an organist and harpsichordist of international standing, as well as an orchestral conductor. His career highlights include organ recitals in Westminster Abbey (London), St Mary The Virgin (New York City) and two recitals in Washington National Cathedral (USA).

Marking the quadricentenary of Byrd’s death in 2023, the Men & Boys Choir of Saint Thomas, Fifth Avenue, New York, recreates the Catholic Mass for the Feast of Corpus Christi as Byrd might have experienced it in the late 16th century. This new recording includes various Latin motets written by Byrd for the feast, along with the remarkable Mass setting in four parts.

Part of this album is a recording, originally released on LP only in 1981, of the Saint Thomas Choir under the late Gerre Hancock, singing Byrd’s complete Great Service, written in the vernacular for the reformed Anglican liturgy – the flip side of Byrd’s Latinate expression.

In 2023 Brilliant Classics released a 9CD box of the complete keyboard music by William Byrd, marking the tercentenary of the composer's death. The set was welcomed as a monumental achievement, and a worthy sequel to Davitt Moroney's pioneering achievement on Hyperion: 'Those who enjoyed Belder's forthright and imaginatively ornamented Byrd performances in his complete Fitzwilliam Virginal Book survey will know what to expect,' wrote Jed Distler in Classics Today. 'He favors less agogic manipulation and more conservative rhythmic continuity compared to Hyperion's Davitt Moroney. However, a palpable sense of controlled freedom informs Belder's subtle placement of cadences and phrase endings and his flexibly articulated ornaments.' Extracted from that critically acclaimed set, the present album presents all the pieces recorded bv Pieter-Jan Belder on the at the Albert Kiespenning organ of the Grote Kerk in Wijk bij Duurstede. The degree to which any of these pieces was written 'for organ' may remain open to question, when they could be performed, with allowance for some imaginative liberties, on any keyboard instrument, and indeed many contemporary pianists have revived Byrd's music for a new generation of listeners. Whether experienced on a Steinway or a spinet, Byrd is the first great composer for the keyboard, even when producing instrumental versions of choral anthems. Belder includes several such pieces here, which find a natural home 'in church' rather than the domestic setting of the harpsichord. Two versions of Salvator Mundi are effectively forerunners of chorale preludes; likewise three versions of Clarifica me. Several voluntaries lie no less idiomatically on the organ despite their highly florid writing, while the assorted preludes or fantasias and their companion fugues also deserve to be regarded alongside notable pre-Bachian models by Frescobaldi and Buxtehude. According to Early Music Review: 'As for performance, Belder's strength is in allowing Byrd to speak through the music rather than inflicting an interpretative regime upon the music... It remains wholeheartedly to welcome and recommend this fine discographical achievement.'

2018 release. This album takes a look back at Chanticleer's favorite composers and works. It combines pieces from Renaissance and Baroque composers (Lassus, Byrd, Morley, Palestrina etc.) with 20th American works composed or arranged by Stucky, Bates, Gershwin (Summertime) and members of Chanticleer.

Recorded in: Forde Abbey, Somerset 17 November 1994 Recorded in: The Warehouse, London 28-30 November 1994 Producer(s) Adrian Hunter Sound Engineer(s) Ben Connellan Richard Smoker (Assistant)

BYRD: Consort and Keyboard Music / Songs and Anthems