MARY AND ELIZABETH AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY

‘Sisters in hope of the Resurrection’

 

1 Omnes gentes plaudite manibus1CHRISTOPHER TYE (c1505–?1572) [4'24]

2 Vox Patris caelestis WILLIAM MUNDY (c1530–before 1591) [17'36]

3 Videte miraculum THOMAS TALLIS (c1505–1585) [8'53]

4 Libera nos I JOHN SHEPPARD (c1515–1558) [3'27]

The Second Service JOHN SHEPPARD (c1515–1558) [9'06] 5 Magnificat [5'39] 6 Nunc dimittis [3'27]

7 Teach me, O Lord WILLIAM BYRD (1539/40–1623) [3'27]

8 Ne irascaris Domine WILLIAM BYRD (1539/40–1623) [9'01]

9 O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth WILLIAM BYRD (1539/40–1623) [2'50]

10 Exaudiat te Dominus ROBERT WHITE (c1538–1574) [7'52]

 

The Choir of Westminster Abbey / James O’Donnell

 

Total Duration: 66'42

 

Our second October release from Westminster Abbey tells the story of the religious and political turmoil that engulfed England in the sixteenth century, and from which composers of liturgical music could find no escape. They were forced to follow the changing edicts about permitted texts as the pendulum of power oscillated between traditional and reformed religion. Interestingly, this period saw the greatest flowering of church music in England’s history; some of the most magnificent works of the age are recorded here.

 

November 1558 is the chronological centrepoint of this disc. The first half of the programme consists of music performed (not necessarily in all cases composed) during Mary’s reign; the second half, beginning with the evening canticles from Sheppard’s Second Service, explores something of the immense variety of sacred music produced during the subsequent, much longer and more celebrated reign of Mary’s Protestant half-sister.

 

Hyperion CDA67704