An Elizabethan Christmas / Fretwork

$14.99
Label
Signum Classics
Release Date
September 3, 2021
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      VARIOUS
    • PERFORMER
      Charlston, Fretwork
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      September 03, 2021
    • UPC
      635212068021
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      SIGCD680
    • LABEL
      Signum Classics
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Classical
    Works ⌄

    1. Out of the Orient Crystal Skies

      Composer: William Byrd

      Ensemble: Fretwork

      Performer: Helen Charlston

    2. Pavan, "Paradizo"

      Composer: Antony Holborne

      Ensemble: Fretwork

    3. As it fell on a Holy Eve

      Composer: Antony Holborne

      Ensemble: Fretwork

    4. From virgin's womb: Rejoice, rejoice

      Composer: William Byrd

      Ensemble: Fretwork

      Performer: Helen Charlston, Emma Walshe, Lucy Cox, Amy Lyddon

    5. The cradle (arr. for chamber ensemble)

      Composer: Antony Holborne

      Ensemble: Fretwork

    6. Lullaby

      Composer: Antony Holborne

      Ensemble: Fretwork

    7. Lullaby, my sweet little baby

      Composer: William Byrd

      Ensemble: Fretwork

      Performer: Helen Charlston

    8. Fantasia No. 1 a 4

      Composer: Orlando Gibbons

      Ensemble: Fretwork

    9. An earthly tree

      Composer: William Byrd

      Ensemble: Fretwork

      Performer: Helen Charlston, Emma Walshe, Amy Lyddon, Guy Cutting, Malachy Frame

    10. Attendite

      Composer: Martin Peerson

      Ensemble: Fretwork

    11. Upon my lap my soveraigne sits (from Private Musicke)

      Composer: Martin Peerson

      Ensemble: Fretwork

      Performer: Helen Charlston, Amy Lyddon, Malachy Frame, Edmund Saddington

    12. To Shorten Winter's Sadnesse

      Composer: Thomas Weelkes

      Ensemble: Fretwork

      Performer: Helen Charlston

    13. Fantasia No. 2 a 4, "great dooble basse"

      Composer: Orlando Gibbons

      Ensemble: Fretwork

    14. Sweet was the song the virgin sung

      Composer: Anonymous

      Ensemble: Fretwork

      Performer: Helen Charlston

    15. The Queenes New Year's Gift

      Composer: Antony Holborne

      Ensemble: Fretwork

    16. Heigh ho holiday

      Composer: Antony Holborne

      Ensemble: Fretwork

    17. O God that guides the cheerful sun

      Composer: William Byrd

      Ensemble: Fretwork

      Performer: Helen Charlston, Lucy Cox, Amy Lyddon, Guy Cutting, Malachy Frame, Edmund Saddington


Viol consort Fretwork and mezzo soprano Helen Charlston explore the more reflective and sombre Christmas celebrations of Elizabethan England, in a collection of works by William Byrd, Anthony Holborne, Orlando Gibbons and Martin Peerson. With celebrations confined strictly to the 12 days from Christmas Eve to Epiphany, the preceding Advent was regarded as a time of religious introspection, with music composed to mark both fasting and feasting. Byrd’s consort songs for voice and 5 viols encompass this range, from the joyous Out of the Orient Crystal Skies – ending with an exuberant ‘Falantidingdido’, a word whose meaning is lost to history – to his Lullaby, a ‘song of sadnes and pietie’ that became one of Byrd’s most enduringly famous songs.

In 2021, Fretwork celebrates its 35th anniversary. In the past three and a half decades they have explored the core repertory of great English consort music, from Taverner to Purcell, and made classic recordings against which others are judged. In addition to this, Fretwork have become known as pioneers of contemporary music for viols, having commissioned over 40 new works. Acclaimed for her musical interpretation, presence and “warmly distinctive tone” (The Telegraph), Helen Charlston is quickly cementing herself as a key performer in the next generation of British singers. Helen won first prize in the 2018 Handel Singing Competition and was a finalist in the Hurn Court Opera Competition, and the Grange Festival International Singing Competition.