Byrd/Parsons/White : Lamentations

Choir & Organ (Jan, 2013)
In Where late the sweet birds sang, an anthology of Latin music from Tudor England by Byrd, White and Parsons, the singers of Magnificat, with deeply plangent tones and devotional introspection, lament the passing of glory, processing majestically from the opening track, Byrd’s Christe qui lux es est dies, to the setting of the same text by White at the close, via masterworks of similar breadth and solemnity. Slow tempi and low pitch throughout reinforce the impression that one is hearing the foundations of a roofless abbey sing; moreover, this is a superb hybrid multichannel recording, sonorous and spacious in spades. …