Helen Charlston, Emma Walshe, Amy Lyddon, Lucy Cox - An Elizabethan Christmas (2021) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Viol consort Fretwork and mezzo soprano Helen Charlston explore the more reflective and sombre Christmas celebrations of Elizabethan England, in a collection of works by William Byrd, Anthony Holborne, Orlando Gibbons and Martin Peerson.

With celebrations confined strictly to the 12 days from Christmas Eve to Epiphany, the preceding Advent was regarded as a time of religious introspection, with music composed to mark both fasting and feasting. Byrd's consort songs for voice and 5 viols encompass this range, from the joyous Out of the Orient Crystal Skies - ending with an exuberant 'Falantidingdido', a word whose meaning is lost to history - to his Lullaby, a 'song of sadnes and pietie 'that became one of Byrd's most enduringly famous songs.

In 2021, Fretwork celebrates its 35th anniversary. In the past three and a half decades they have explored the core repertory of great English consort music, from Taverner to Purcell, and made classic recordings against which others are judged. In addition to this, Fretwork have become known as pioneers of contemporary music for viols, having commissioned over 40 new works.

Acclaimed for her musical interpretation, presence and “warmly distinctive tone” (The Telegraph), Helen Charlston is quickly cementing herself as a key performer in the next generation of British singers. Helen won first prize in the 2018 Handel Singing Competition and was a finalist in the Hurn Court Opera Competition, and the Grange Festival International Singing Competition.

Recorded in St Magdalen Church, Sherborne, Gloucestershire, UK from 15th – 17th May 2019 and 7th–8th October 2020.

Tracklist:
01. Byrd: Out of the Orient Crystal Skies
02. Holborne: Pavan
03. Holborne: As It Fell on Holie Eve
04. Byrd: From Virgin’s Womb – Rejoice, Rejoice
05. Holborne: The Cradle
06. Holborne: Lullabie
07. Byrd: Lullaby
08. Gibbons: 7 Fantasias 'for Ye Great Dooble Bass': No. 1 a 4
09. Byrd: An Earthly Tree – Cast off All Doubtful Care
10. Peerson: Attendite
11. Peerson: Upon my Lap, my Sovereign Sits
12. Weelkes: To Shorten Winter’s Sadnesse
13. Gibbons: 7 Fantasias 'for Ye Great Dooble Bass': No. 2 a 4
14. Sweet was the Song the Virgin sang
15. Holborne: The New-yeares Gift
16. Holborne: Heigh Ho Holiday
17. Byrd: O God That Guides the Cheerful Sun


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