WILLIAM BYRD ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

WILLIAM BYRD ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

The Stondon Singers

at Stondon Parish Church

04.07.17

The Stondon Singers were formed back in the 60s, initially to bring the choral works of William Byrd home to Stondon Massey.

This was their 50^th Anniversary Concert – Byrd died on July 4 1623 – and it took as its theme the influence of Italy, specifically Venice, on music in Tudor England.

So, in his 450^th anniversary year, we had a four-part Mass by Monteverdi, meticulously phrased, especially in the Gloria, with a sublimely subtle ending in Dona Nobis Pacem.

A couple of his small-scale Madrigals, too, and, more obvious imports, some spirited Ferrabosco from Musica Transalpina, a collection of Italian works translated for the English market. And, as David Schacht's informative introduction reminded us, there were more tangible imports, too: flat-packed instruments for London luthiers to assemble.

A lively Gabrieli motet for eight voices, the text tossed around from part to part, and beautifully sung Willaert – a Flemish import to San Marco.

Byrd himself was represented by Tribue Domine, from Cantiones Sacrae – showcasing English music for the European market – and after Gibbons' exquisite Silver Swan, Although the Heathen, Byrd's short but showy part-song from a collection published in 1588.

The Stondon Singers were directed, with exemplary attention to detail, by Christopher Tinker.

BYRD AND THE EUROPEAN FRINGE

BYRD AND THE EUROPEAN FRINGE

The Stondon Singers at Stondon Massey

05.07.16


William Byrd's celebratory Haec Dies was the curtain raiser to this anniversary concert, a fascinating collection of works, sacred and profane, by his contemporaries in Renaissance Europe.
Freedom of movement seems to have been no problem – Franco-Flemish or Scandinavian musicians migrating to find work in Italy or Spain, for instance. Such as Mogens Pederson, a Dane who met Gabrieli in Venice; we heard three of his delightful Italian madrigals.
Two settings of Vox in Rama: chromatic from Giaches de Wert, working in Spain, and exquisitely expressive from Polish composer Mikolaj Zielinski – fine singing from the Stondons under Christopher Tinker's direction. They also excelled in Byrd's Ave Verum of 1605, and in the nicely rounded sound of O Vos Omnes by one Robert Ramsey, who may have moved south from his native, independent Scotland in the retinue of his monarch in 1603.

A bonus on this glorious evening in Byrd's local church – lute music from Mike Ashley, with Annabel Malton soprano, including two contrasting pieces from another persistent Papist, master of melancholia John Dowland.

WILLIAM BYRD ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

WILLIAM BYRD ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

Stondon Singers at Stondon Massey

07.07.15

Imogen Holst's lovely Mass setting of 1927, rarely heard since she composed it while still a student, was the centrepiece of this year's Byrd concert.

Performed with immaculate styling by the Stondons under Christopher Tinker – the graphic setting of “Jesu Christe” in the Gloria and the final “pacem” of the Agnus Dei were beautifully realised – it betrays the influence of her teachers Howells, Dyson and especially Vaughan Williams, as well as the Renaissance masters whose work made up the programme.

Tallis – an assured O Sacrum Convivium – and of course William Byrd, his heartfelt setting of Savonarola's Infelix Ego, dramatically progressing from a tentative “non audeo” to the climactic redemptive “misericordiam”. Plus four motets from the second book of Gradualia, dedicated to his fellow Catholic the First Baron Petre and described in the dedication as “blooms collected in your own garden”. And to end, a light-footed Madrigal, Though Amaryllis Dance in Green.

Always a pleasure to celebrate Byrd in the church by his Stondon Massey house; to sit in the nave he seldom frequented, to listen to a selection of his life's work, and to drink wine in the churchyard where he was “grudgingly” interred in 1623 and still lies in the tranquillity of an unmarked grave.

WAR AND PEACE

WAR AND PEACE

The Stondon Singers at Ingatestone Hall

08.07.14

William Byrd was a frequent visitor to Ingatestone Hall, and to his patron the first Baron Petre. More than four hundred years on, he'd be slightly surprised, perhaps, to find the Hall still here, and lived in, and the eighteenth Baron in the audience for this concert.

War, the theme of Brentwood Arts Festival, is also still with us, of course, and Byrd's Civitas Sancti Tui, graphically depicting the desolation of Jerusalem, reminds us that nothing much has changed since the time of Isaiah.

A very different take on the battlefield in La Guerre, a highly coloured description of a French victory [in Italy, in 1515] by Jannequin, jingoistic avant la lettre, performed with relish by the Stondon Singers under Christopher Tinker.

Their a cappella polyphony sounded especially delightful in the panelled hall. Their themed programme, which also included Tallis, Victoria and two guys named Lobo, ended with an optimistic lollipop, one of Byrd's few secular works, the madrigal This Sweet Merry Month of May. 

for those not fortunate enough to be at Ingatestone Hall, or Stondon Church the previous week, here are The Kings Singers with two of the key works ...

BYRD ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

BYRD ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

The Stondon Singers in Stondon Massey Church

02.07.13

This year's concert featured an early Tudor mass setting by Byrd's teacher John Sheppard – the Western Wind, based on a popular song, whose choral textures are often distilled to solo voices, for example in the Crucifixus and the Benedictus. Sung with lucidity and precision by the Stondons, conducted by Christopher Tinker. Just as enjoyable was the lollipop which closed the evening: Richard Genée's Insalata Italiana, an amusing parody of opera, using the gamut of Italian score markings, from piano to piu mosso, fronted by the impressive bass of Mark Ellis.

But the main theme of the programme was the influence on Byrd of another foreigner, the madrigalist and secret agent Alfonso Ferrabosco. So, helped by a brief talk by Richard Turbet, we could play compare and contrast, and spot the difference, for example with two very different settings of Susanna Fair, and two strikingly similar songs called The Nightingale.

And to end the first half, a collector's item, long misattributed, O Praise Our Lord. A lively piece, which, like the opening Laudibus in Sanctis, enumerates the instruments of praise, like "the gladsome sound of silver bells", before sinking back into a restful Amen.

As is traditional, we take refreshment amongst the gravestones. Somewhere in this remote churchyard William Byrd is buried, and may feel the footfall of those faithful few who still value his music and his witness.

WILLIAM BYRD ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

WILLIAM BYRD ANNIVERSARY CONCERT

Stondon Singers at the Church of St Peter and St Paul

03.07.12

This little church has seen countless changes in its nine centuries, many of them in the lifetime of William Byrd, who lived close by for the latter part of his life, but rarely ventured inside. Under the patronage of Lord Petre, this Catholic composer managed to survive the Reformation and happily composed both masses and Anglican anthems.

We heard both in this concert. The imitative polyphony of the Mass for Five Voices, the lower parts adding body and warmth to the sound, and O Lord Make Your Servant Elizabeth, written for the Virgin Queen. There was music from the "lost generation", between Tallis and Byrd, including a simple anthem by William Mundy; its Amen delivered with affecting simplicity.

After the interval – rum punch in the churchyard – a much wider range of music: Henry VIII's greatest hit, with tambourine obbligato from the Singers' conductor Christopher Tinker, and the very different sound worlds of Italian madrigals and five colourful, energetic songs by Kodaly.

A typically impressive evening of choral music from the Stondon Singers, with two bonuses: an organ Pavan by Byrd [Tinker again] on the charmingly voiced instrument, and a delightful extract from Henry Reed's Streets of Pompeii, first heard on radio sixty years ago.

WILLIAM BYRD MEMORIAL CONCERT

The Stondon Singers at Stondon Massey

06.07.10

For their annual homage to William Byrd, in his own parish church, the Stondon Singers chose three of his sacred works, including a lustrous, polished Plorans Ploravit, and three muscular madrigals.
The instrumental group Burntwood Musique – who turned out to be a recorder consort – chose dances that Byrd wrote for his friend and fellow Catholic, William Petre, his Pavan and Galliard. These lively pieces punctuated the main work of the evening, Monteverdi's Missa in Illo Tempore, complete with its substantial Credo. It began with a bright, positive Kyrie, and included a beautifully textured Benedictus.

The sound was glorious, a balanced, harmonious whole. Though I did wonder how his music would have sounded four hundred years ago within these same walls ...

The Stondon Singers, directed by Christopher Tinker, ended with more recent music: James McMillan, and the American William Hawley, whose simple Reverie 'My River Runs to Thee' – setting words by Emily Dickinson – was a hugely effective choice for this tranquil rural setting. Then El Grillo by Josquin des Prez, and a more contemporary Spanish text, the Argentinian Tango El Ultimo Café.