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Byrd | Britten
Benjamin Britten, William Byrd

The Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge

Byrd | Britten

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212048122
Catnr: SIGCD 481
Release date: 03 February 2017
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Label
Signum Classics
UPC
0635212048122
Catalogue number
SIGCD 481
Release date
03 February 2017
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN
NL

About the album

Led by Mark Williams, the Choir of Jesus College, Cambridge continue their critically-praised series of recordings on Signum with this new recording of works by British composers Benjamin Britten and William Byrd. Byrd and Britten, their respective careers separated by about three hundred and fifty years, share one very significant characteristic. They were both, in quite different ways, outsiders. As a devout Catholic existing within an alien environment - a state which ultimately viewed Catholicism as the equivalent of sedition - Byrd was obliged to pursue a kind of double life, expressing his spiritual exile in music of emotional intensity. Like Byrd, Britten became highly regarded by the establishment for his artistic achievements, but reservations regarding his homosexuality prevented his complete acceptance. Both his pacifism and his sexual orientation made him an outsider.
Populair studentenkoor zingt werken van Britten en Byrd
Het Choir of Jesus College, onder leiding van Mark Williams, zet de door critici geprezen reeks albums voort met deze opname van werken van de Britse componisten Britten en Byrd.

Een combinatie van muziek van William Byrd en Benjamin Britten lijkt op het eerste oog misschien wat vergezocht. Tussen de componisten zit een tijdsverschil van meer dan 350 jaar. En hun muziek ligt op bepaalde vlakken mijlenver uit elkaar. Daar waar Byrd tijdens de hoogtijdagen van de Renaissance, in een vloeiende stijl van virtuoos contrapunt schreef, wordt de 20ste-eeuwse muziek van Britten gekenmerkt door een mix van nieuwe stijlen en modernistische technieken. En toch sluit de muziek naadloos op elkaar aan. De werken van beide componisten kennen een subtiele toonzetting, warme klankkleuren en bij tijd en wijle een ontroerende melancholie.

Zowel Byrd als Britten waren buitenbeentjes, elk op hun eigen manier. Als een vroom katholiek in een land waar het Anglicisme de belangrijkste religie was, moest Byrd een soort dubbelleven leiden. Dankzij zijn bijzondere muziek werd hij gezien als een van de grootste componisten van zijn generatie, maar hij werd gedwongen zijn geloof en spiritualiteit te onderdrukken. Net als Byrd was Britten tijdens zijn leven een hooggeëerde componist, maar men had bedenkingen rond zijn homoseksualiteit, wat een volledige acceptatie verhinderde. Beide componisten leefden in een continue strijd tegen zichzelf en tegen de wereld om hen heen. Wellicht is het deze strijd die hun muziek zo bijzonder maakt.

Jesus College heeft een lange en rijke traditie op het gebied van kerkmuziek en onderhoudt twee koren: het College Choir en het Chapel Choir. De twee koren komen bijeen voor concerten, opnames en tours, en vormen samen een ensemble van bijna vijftig zangers. Het gecombineerde koor heeft een internationale aanwezigheid en wordt regelmatig uitgenodigd om over de hele wereld op te treden.

Artist(s)

The Choir of Jesus College Cambridge

The Choir of Jesus College Cambridge, directed by Richard Pinel, has gained an international reputation for its music-making, based on performances around the globe, broadcasts, highly praised recordings and regular services in the College's beautiful and ancient chapel. Jesus College, founded out of the ancient nunnery of St Radegund in 1496, has a long and rich tradition of church music. It is distinctive in maintaining two choirs: the Chapel Choir, with its centuries of tradition, which is made up of boy choristers and adult male singers; and the College Choir, formed in 1982, which has female undergraduates for its top line. The adult male singers form the ‘back row’ for both choirs. Each choir has developed a distinctive reputation and repertoire. Occasionally,...
more

The Choir of Jesus College Cambridge, directed by Richard Pinel, has gained an international reputation for its music-making, based on performances around the globe, broadcasts, highly praised recordings and regular services in the College's beautiful and ancient chapel.

Jesus College, founded out of the ancient nunnery of St Radegund in 1496, has a long and rich tradition of church music. It is distinctive in maintaining two choirs: the Chapel Choir, with its centuries of tradition, which is made up of boy choristers and adult male singers; and the College Choir, formed in 1982, which has female undergraduates for its top line. The adult male singers form the ‘back row’ for both choirs. Each choir has developed a distinctive reputation and repertoire.
Occasionally, the College and Chapel Choirs join together for services and concerts, forming an ensemble of nearly fifty singers. Projects have included Haydn's Nelson Mass, Handel's Messiah and Bach's St Matthew Passion and St John Passion. The Combined Choirs have performed with renowned soloists and ensembles including the Saraband Consort and His Majesty's Sagbutts and Cornetts under Mark Williams, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under John Rutter. The Combined Choirs also participate in regular large-scale performances with other Cambridge Choirs, including Elgar's Dream of Gerontius, Verdi's Otello and Walton's Belshazzar's Feast.


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Mark Williams (conductor)

Composer(s)

Benjamin Britten

Benjamin Britten is one most important British composers from the second half of the twentieth century. Remarkably, he focused on opera, a dying genre, at least in its current form. Britten's contributions however, among which Peter Grimes, The Rape of Lucretia, Gloriana, The Turn of the Screw, and Death in Venice, managed to remain core repertoire for opera companies to this day. Many of these productions included a role for his artistic partner and life companion Peter Pears. Britten also wrote a number of lieder for this tenor, among which his Serenade for tenor, horn and string orchestra. Yet, Britten excelled in many more genres. He wasn't even 20 years old when he composed his brilliant Phantasy for hobo quartet and his friendship with...
more

Benjamin Britten is one most important British composers from the second half of the twentieth century. Remarkably, he focused on opera, a dying genre, at least in its current form. Britten's contributions however, among which Peter Grimes, The Rape of Lucretia, Gloriana, The Turn of the Screw, and Death in Venice, managed to remain core repertoire for opera companies to this day. Many of these productions included a role for his artistic partner and life companion Peter Pears. Britten also wrote a number of lieder for this tenor, among which his Serenade for tenor, horn and string orchestra. Yet, Britten excelled in many more genres. He wasn't even 20 years old when he composed his brilliant Phantasy for hobo quartet and his friendship with the legendary cellist Rostropovich led to a Cello sonata, three Suites for cello solo and a Symphony for Cello and orchestra in the 1960s.

Britten never became Master of the Queen's Music, yet he surely had feeling for public sentiments. For example, as a pacifist, he taught his people about world peace through his War Requiem from 1962. Britten was an excellent interpreter of his own work, just like Bartók and Stravinsky. Many of his recordings have been matched, but never exceeded.


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William Byrd

William Byrd was an English composer. He was one of the greatest composers of his generation. Hiis name is sometimes spelled as Bird, Byrde, or Byred. The exact dates of his birth and death are not known, and even his place of birth (Lincoln) is merely guesswork, based on the fact that several families named Byrd lived in Lincolnshire during the 17th century.  As a child, Byrd received music lessons from the renowned Thomas Tallis in the Chapel Royal in London. Byrd is part of the so-called virginalists. In 1563, he was appointed as organist of the cathedral in Lincoln, even though he must have only been around 20 years old and in 1572 he was appointed as organist of Chapel Royal...
more

William Byrd was an English composer. He was one of the greatest composers of his generation. Hiis name is sometimes spelled as Bird, Byrde, or Byred. The exact dates of his birth and death are not known, and even his place of birth (Lincoln) is merely guesswork, based on the fact that several families named Byrd lived in Lincolnshire during the 17th century. As a child, Byrd received music lessons from the renowned Thomas Tallis in the Chapel Royal in London. Byrd is part of the so-called virginalists. In 1563, he was appointed as organist of the cathedral in Lincoln, even though he must have only been around 20 years old and in 1572 he was appointed as organist of Chapel Royal together with Tallis. In 1575, again with Tallis, he received the rights to publish and sell his music by Queen Elizabeth I. In honour of the Queen, the two composers dedicated their Cantiones Sacrae in the same year.
On multiple occasions, Byrd was prosecuted in court. As a catholic, he was repeatedly prosecuted for the rejection of Anglicanism. Nonetheless, he remained in favour of the Queen, probably because he composed music for both religious branches. Moreover, he wrote both secular and sacred music, and both vocal and instrumental pieces.


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