William Byrd (c.1540-1623)
Byrd 1589: Songs of sundrie natures
Alamire, Fretwork/David Skinner
rec. 2022, Fitzalan Chapel, Arundel Castle, West Sussex, England
Booklet includes English sung texts
Inventa INV1011 [122]

This is the first recording of all thirty-four Songs of sundrie natures, half of them recorded for the first time.

The seven Penitential Psalms, which begin the collection, are anonymous English translations in rhyming couplets from Latin. Byrd also set the fourth, O God which art most merciful, in Latin, in Miserere mei Deus published in 1591 in his Cantiones Sacrae II. That was recorded by The Gesualdo Six in 2017 on Hyperion (CDA 68256), for five voices rather than three here. More contrast between starker, fuller homophony and contrapuntal melismas on ‘Deus’ and ‘tuam’ and ‘meam’ has a vivid personal appeal. This setting’s lack of extended homophony and smaller scale means a less formal intimacy. There still are contrapuntal effects like rising or falling quick notes in all three voices leading to ‘me’ (0:22-0:34) as if wanting a cleansing caress, and a faster still ornamental descent on ‘hath’ (1:23-1:33) hinting God glosses over the ‘sundry ways’ of wickedness. Keywords of confession and contrition are crystal clear.

Susanna fair begins the secular settings, identifiable by lute accompaniment and text: ‘lewd intent’ of two old men if they cannot succeed by ‘tender love’ will use ‘force and might’. All is presented at a high pitch to ironically luminous effect, more when Susanna’s response is of blazing conviction: she prefers death to deflowering and offending our Lord.

Some songs are in more than one section. When younglings first on Cupid has two. One senses Byrd enjoying its pristine innocence and naughtiness: Cupid naked, blindfold, a boy. Constant interweaving of the three voices creates a giggling egging one another on: ignore his bow and arrows, he cannot hit us blind, let us play with his purple wings ‘for glorious seemeth love though light as feather’. This is Byrd in pure madrigal glow. In the second section ‘But when proof they find’ (1:37), Cupid is not blind, the voices crowd in upon one another in wounded awe. The soprano descant leads all’s closing ascending plea, ‘Then shield me heavens from such a subtle thing’, recognising they have fallen into temptation, not Cupid tempting them.

Is love a boy? is the first of the settings for four voices, here arranged for one mezzo-soprano with the main melodic line and three viols as the other voices. The advantage is that the argument of the text is clearer, and needed in the presentation of a homily in two sections. Clare Wilkinson’s no-nonsense, boy-like pertness combines curiosity and bemusement. The equally pert rhythms from the viols emphasise an underlying playfulness. Why should a boy want to strike? If he is blind, how can he guide? If a man, how can he hurt others of his kind? If a God, why deride men? Wilkinson gets across a notable fixation, considering derision. The conclusion is that love produces wilfulness, aggression, pretence of blindness to lead astray and a God who does not exert authority. The second section, ‘Boy pity me’ (2:05) is a prayer because love has made the singer a child again: recover your sight not to lead me astray, use your strength to remove my pain. As for God, ‘do me good and lead me to my way’. The focus has shifted to the Christian God and witness. Affirmation of faith is coupled with challenge: ‘Power of my life, let here thy grace be shown.’ Wilkinson delivers a piece of transformation delivered with calmness and finally an illuminating sense of purpose.

In O Lord my God, four Alamire voices interweave to create a warmly chaste piece, emphasising the key ingredients, not to be subdued by flesh and blood, deceived by the world’s false glory and the devil’s craft. All one needs is resistance through fortitude, patience, constancy and perseverance, for that final virtue the melismas gliding to a smooth end.

While that the sun is the song of a jilted shepherd played on his pipe, ‘Adieu love, untrue love, your mind is light, soon lost for new love’, but we get accompanying lute for atmosphere. ‘Soon lost’ is a curt dismissal splayed across the four parts, contrasted with the glow of eager gaze at ‘new love’. This is the only strophic setting for four voices, so it is a pity that only the first stanza is sung and printed in the booklet; the following three give more detail about the relationship, its collapse and the shepherd’s reaction.

The second disc brings settings for five and six voices. David Skinner’s note draws special attention to four consort works for soloists and viols. O dear life, a strophic song in three stanzas, reveals the thoughts, fears and hopes of the singer absent from the loved one. Particularly affecting is the repeat of the final line a fourth higher, feeling bursting through poetic restraint. Wilkinson sings the whole with piercing innocence. Emily van Evera, recorded in 1986 on Harmonia Mundi (HMC905192) sings more emotively with some vibrato. I prefer Wilkinson’s greater distance, which suits the singer’s situation.

From Virgin’s womb is a carol for Christmas Day, with two striking contrasts. First, there is a brighter quality in the introducing then accompanying viols than the more serious voice of mezzo Martha McLorinan, with more rounded quality than Wilkinson (more Alfreda Hodgson than Emma Kirkby). McLorinan delivers the text with conviction. Byrd’s straightforward musical line is beautifully shaped. It is amazing how the four stanzas of the strophic setting are presented with equal focus to word setting. The second, more stunning, contrast is the unaccompanied chorus ‘Rejoice, rejoice’, with two sopranos and two mezzo-sopranos, like an ecstatic choir of angels, especially the sopranos’ descant.

Skinner points out that other recordings place this at the end, but the Byrd Edition Volume 13 urtext states that it should follow every verse, as Skinner does. His initiative means that the piece takes 9:37. Helen Charlston recorded with Fretwork on Signum Classics (review) takes 6:42. She sings in a statelier manner of resolute confidence than McLorinan, while the closer recording of Fretwork gives their playing more edge and equality with the voice. In Charlston’s singing, one feels diligently assimilated understanding; I prefer McLorinan’s more immediate wonder and sense of direction. Charlston’s chorus is less ethereally angelic but undeniably animated.

An earthly tree a heavenly fruit is another carol for Christmas Day, with two mezzo-soprano solo voices and a chorus for two mezzo-sopranos, tenor and bass. The soloists alternate at increasingly reduced distance, ending in simultaneous song. Their interchange emphasises Christ’s sacrifice and, through our redemption, ‘sweet death.’ In the chorus, ‘Cast off all doubtful care’, the congregation jubilantly clamours at this news. McLorinan and Wilkinson take 7:23 against Charlston and Amy Lyddon’s 6:11. The latter articulate clearly but McLorinan and Wilkinson’s projection is freer. Charlston’s chorus is dutifully accomplished yet less enthusiastic.

The collection ends with songs for six voices. Who made thee Hob is the most comic, an easy-going dialogue between two shepherds about one falling in love. The solo voices, backed by four viols, alternate, only coming together in duet in the closing, repeated refrain. McLorinan and Wilkinson sing, but why not use the two Alamire baritones? That is what the King’s Singers do in their recording on Signum Classics (review) to a more realistic effect, with rustic accents and an indulgent drooling on the closing ‘die’. Skinner’s ladies sing with a pristine clarity more befitting a vicar’s tea party.

To me, the most memorable in this programme is the verse anthem Easter carol, Christ rising again. Two mezzo-soprano soloists accompanied by four viols echo one another and then coalesce, surveying the transformation from death to life. The surprise is the acclamations of the four-voice chorus which one and then both soloists join at key moments. One feels one has joined this congregation of witness with a burst of energy at the rising motif ‘he liveth unto God’ (1:37). The second section, ‘Christ is risen again’ (2:57), more lilting because the pulse changes from four beats in the bar to six, proclaims the effect of the resurrection in glad tidings of unassailable momentum and urgency. That includes a mammoth display of syncopation in six parts at ‘restored to life’ (soloists from 4:33, chorus from 4:39). Skinner’s singers convey magnificent clarity and resilience. Magdalena Consort with Peter Harvey and Fretwork recorded it on Signum Classics (review). Taking 5:10 to Skinner’s 5:46, Harvey emphasises projection more, particularly the more swinging second section. In the first section, however, concern with precision of entry, especially that of the chorus, makes for an overall stiffer, less dramatic impression. Nevertheless, interplay between the voices and syncopation in the second section work well.

I have tried to give a feel of the collection’s variety in mood and forces used. But the overall effect is greater than the individual items and only now, with this first complete recording, can it be experienced.

Michael Greenhalgh

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Contents
Songs in 3 parts
1-7. Seven Penitential Psalms
Lord in thy rage
Right blessed are they*
Lord in thy wrath correct me not*
O God which art most merciful*
Lord hear my prayer instantly
From depth of sin*
Attend mine humble prayer Lord
8. Susanna fair
9. The nightingale
10. When younglings first*
11. Upon a summer’s day*
12. The greedy hawk*

Songs in 4 parts
13. Is love a boy?
14. Wounded I am
15. From Citheron the warlike boy is fled*
16. O Lord my God*
17. While that the sun*

Songs in 5 parts
1. Weeping full sore
2. Penelope that longed for the sight
3. Compel the hawk
4. See those sweet eyes*
5. When I was otherwise
6. When first by force*
7. I thought love had been a boy
8. O dear life
9. From Virgin’s womb
10. Of gold all burnished*

Songs in 6 parts
11. Behold how good*
12. An earthly tree a heavenly fruit
13. Who made thee Hob
14. And think ye nymphs*
15. If in thine heart*
16. Unto the hills mine eyes I lift*
17. Christ rising again

*first recording