[Salisbury interior]  [The Sarum Seminar]

One in a series of Sarum Research Group meetings: part of the Sarum study group on gothic cathedrals and related topics.

Kerry McCarthy: Reform and revolution in Tudor church music

Here are some recommended CDs of Tudor church music (going more or less in chronological order, as the Sarum Seminar lecture did). <krm @ stanford.edu>

I. Status quo around the turn of the 16th century

High-gothic splendor and detail -- visualize the roof vaulting of King's College Chapel translated into music.

II. The new aesthetic of the Reformation

Understated elegance, and some of the best melodies in the whole English repertoire, including the source of Vaughan Williams' 'Fantasia on a theme of Tallis.'

III. Return to traditional extravagance during the 1550s

Wonderful and often strange music. The Mundy is on an album (originally released as an LP in 1980, and still one of the best TS recordings) along with the better-known Allegri Miserere and a mass by Palestrina. This obscure twenty-minute B side is more than worth the price of the record.

IV. The survival of Latin music in the later sixteenth century

The Fagiolini album, by a young group from Oxford, includes motets, harpsichord pieces, and some great English songs. Byrd's Gradualia is a collection of music for the (now quite illegal) Catholic mass, in a beautiful, concentrated style that was hammered out by adversity.

All these albums should be available through amazon.com or at a good record shop. If you have questions about any other recording of English renaissance music, please e-mail me at krm @ stanford.edu; I may have run across it, and would be glad to give advice.

Happy listening!
Kerry

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