The second release in Stile Antico’s ‘Golden Renaissance’ trilogy on the Decca Classics label commemorates 400 years since the death of the superb English composer William Byrd. The programme focuses on the music of Byrd’s final years, written for the clandestine Catholic services of his Essex patron, including his timeless Mass for Four Voices and his exuberant Propers for the Feast of the Assumption.
Stream online or buy the CD from stileantico.co.uk (UK customers only)
‘Stile Antico (as always, conductor-free)… splendidly showcase Byrd’s intense imagination, exuberance and general magnificence, especially when the composer’s vocal lines spin off into repeated phrases, tumbling over each other in rapturous cascades’ Geoff Brown, The Times
‘As a wide-ranging introduction to one of the greatest of English composers, this starts Byrd’s anniversary year in some style.’ Richard Fairman, Financial Times