Post intelligent and civil comments. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the NLM
The Cardinall's Musick under Andrew Carwood has already begun recording the cycle of propers. There are probably other groups, but I'm not aware of them.
I have Vol. 6 and Vol. 7 from the Cardinall's Musick William Byrd Edition; they are excellently done.
Yes, the Cardinall's Musick (directed by former London Oratory Director of Music, Andrew Carwood) is certainly the best Byrd choir around - they really have perfected the sound (complete with authentic pronounciation).
I have a great deal of respect for those who undertake to perform Byrd's music - it really is the gold in the treasure trove but it comes with many difficulties.
For many years the parish choir I directed sang the complete Propers for Corpus Christi annually - this is a good place to start for parish choirs. The pieces are all fairly simple 4 part settings and the eucharistic texts mean they can be learned and performed throughout the year before in order to get them up to scratch.
It is good to have more discussion about music on NLM - I would urge more encouragement for parish-level music: many places would be able to perform some of the basic settings but just need encouragement!
...don't limit yourself to the Gradualia. The 1589 and 1591 Cantiones are particularly fine, too - not to mention the earlier 1575 collection with Tallis! The six part O Salutaris from the 1589 (I think) collection is the finest piece of music I know! False relations on every beat at one point!
Apologies... I keep getting cut off!
I was involved with the recording of this disc: http://www.hyperion-records.co.u...CDA66837&
f=byrd
A good recording of the Corpus Christi propers sung with boy trebles.
Whilst not wishing to comment on the respective merits of choirs I would say that the Carwood recordings are superb - the Holy Saturday Vespers and Resurrexi pieces quite sublime.
With regard to polyphonic propers one can only applaud and encourage their use wherever possible. It has always struck me as incongruous to have e.g. a plainsong introit followed by a Mozart Kyrie. Surely an intrinsic hierarchy of the value of respective texts would suggest that the propers be polyphonic, at least for the greater feasts.
I am familiar with some of Byrd's complete Mass settings and share Jeffrey's view that there is a huge amount of music waiting to be performed in the context for which it was composed.
Are all Byrd's works available online? The Gradualia, for example. I haven't been able to find it.
Most are available in sheet music at CPDL. Not sure what is missing. The are listed by title.
Another vote for the Cardinall's Musick recordings. Cantores in ecclesia is a nice ensemble, but they Harwood's group is exceptional.
I meant Carwood, not Harwood.
'Whilst not wishing to comment on the respective merits of choirs'
Point well taken!
As the conductor of the little amateur effort put online by Jeffrey yesterday, I'd recommend that anyone interested in the Byrd Gradualia go directly to the local music store (or Amazon, etc.) and pick up the excellent Carwood CD set.
The beauty of Cantores, as I see it, is the willingness to sing this music day after day in its liturgical context. Let's leave professional recording to the professionals.
I quite like the recordings of Byrd by The Sixteen, but I don't think they have done the Propers in themselves. In their double cd of the Mass for four and five voices, the Propers for Ss. Peter and Paul and the Proper for All Saints are also recorded.
The Gradualia for the Marian masses have been recorded by the William Byrd Choir directed by Gavin Turner.
krm, agreed. The work of the Cantores is exemplary. I'd much rather hear a Byrd proper setting in church than in concert!
The Gavin Turner disc of the Marian Masses is good but a little dated now. Carwood is still the authority, really - especially with the help of David Skinner (not matter how dubious his editions are).
I'm not sure of the Sixteen recordings - they're usually too shouty and tend to have litte dynamic contrast despite the accuracy. I have to say I find their tuning spot on but a little boring and there's rarely a false relation that you don't find in the OUP editions!
Gregory, I quite like the Carwood too, but The Sixteen, particularly in their rendering of Quomodo Cantabimus, capture for me something of the achievement of devotional joy in the darkness of Protestant England.
Has anyone heard the Hilliard Byrd recording? I usually like Hilliard, and I am quite curious to hear how they would do Byrd.
This may seem an exotic question, but has anyone even begun to undertake the following labor of love: to catalog all the polyphonic settings of the propers (EF or OF) readily available? For example:
Fourth Sunday of Advent, Introit, "Rorate caeli"
Settings by:
Byrd (SATTB)
Guerrero (ATBB or SATB*)
Palestrina (SSATB)
Schuetz (SSB soli)
Titsek (SAB)
(* in Chester music volume)
See what I mean? We could greatly advance the use of polyphonic propers if people could be informed of what's out there, especially on CPDL.
There are a whole heap of music available of Victoria, and a few others (mostly Spaniards) are linked therefrom. But the task is quite impossible. Wikipedia doesn't do too badly...
There is, that should have been.
Jeffrey Tucker pointed out to me that Aristotle Esguerra has begun a project of identifying publically available polyphonic propers:
http://www.cantemusdomino.net/po...phonic-propers/
This is EXACTLY what I had in mind, except that there are some pieces I've seen on the web that are not yet in this spreadsheet. Keeping it up to date would be quite a task.
Professor Kwasniewski et al.
At some point, perhaps sooner rather than later, I would like to open up the spreadsheet for user-contributed edits. In the meantime, Please feel free to alert me to any pieces that don't yet appear on the spreadsheet by using this contact form.
Thank you!
ProfKwasniewski,
I myself have had this project in mind for a long time by I heard that the late Dr. Theodore Marier made up a list which I suppose is buried somewhere in his papers.
These are no longer the propers for the Assumption. Pius XII instituted a number of new feasts and approved new Propers. After defining the Dogma of the Assumption in 1950, a new mass formula (the mass Signum magnum) was introduced for the feast. Check any 1961 LU or GR.
Robert, you are right but the older propers have been restored in the introit at least, and I haven't checked the rest. The point is that these were the propers in Byrd's time and he composed them. What was sacred then is sacred now. This is the spirit of Summorum at work.
See A Byrd Celebration (CMAA). It is a collection but has a huge biography section. Best available.
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