Search - Robert Parsons, Robert White, Andrew Carwood :: Music at All Souls Oxford: Lancastrians to Tudors

Here's one of those recordings that are far more interesting than their very dry titles suggest. The Cardinall's Musick has made a post-Tallis Scholars niche for itself as specialists in English Renaissance sacred music, and for this disc they've assembled a fascinating program of music associated with All Souls' College, Oxford, during its first 150 years--and showing the enormous changes the English church and its music underwent during that time. In 1438, when the college was founded, the Wars of the Roses were about to begin, England was solidly Roman Catholic, and the sweet (if not terribly emotive) music of John Dunstable was having a strong influence on the Continent. By 1588, of course, England had become Protestant not once but twice, and recusant Catholics were gathering for secret services with profoundly melancholy music such as Robert White's Lamentations. In between, English church music ranged from the florid, lavishly scored style of Eton Choirbook composers Walter Lambe and Richard Davy to the radically simplified English-language music composed after the reforms of Thomas Cranmer, England's first Protestant archbishop. The Cardinall's Musick captures all these stylistic shifts wonderfully. Many modern performances of Dunstable and his contemporaries are slow to the point of drowsiness (White's Lamentations suffer from the same problem), but not this one. Conductor Andrew Carwood gives the 15th-century works (including two Mass movements attributed to King Henry V) an almost bouncy momentum; Davy's O Domine celi sounds like the fabulous showpiece it is. Consequently, the plainness of the early Anglican music seems startling in contrast. This is more than just an enjoyable recording, it's a fascinating history lesson. --Matthew Westphal