All the above pieces were originally for voices, though the Gibbons was described in the original volume of madrigals from which it comes as being 'apt for Viols or Voyces'. By implication, recorder players of the period must also have availed themselves of much of this vocal music that sounds well when transferred to recorders. One can imagine also domestic instrumental performance of Latin texted motets, anthems or even sections of the mass, especially among recusant households where they would have taken on a particular significance. However, the present settings are of more general nature.
The simplicity of style and four part writing in Byrd’s Ave Verum and Mundy’s O Lord the maker (two very well known anthems to any former chorister) make them especially suitable for recorders, but the rich and more intricate textures of Byrd’s six-part setting of Sing Joyfully are also of great instrumental appeal, with much rhythmic interplay between the parts. Byrd sets the first four verses of Psalm 81 in which the reference to various musical instruments seems to invite instrumental performance.
Recorder players will know well the skill and craftsmanship of Gibbons’ instrumental music, and much of his vocal music, as has been noted, was also intended as much for instrumental performance. This fine madrigal is provided in this edition with the original text which, like the Byrd, has musical references, albeit of a more symbolic nature.
All three volumes are most welcome and provide recorder players with instrumental settings of vocal music fully in a tradition that would surely have formed an important part of music mak- ing in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.
JANUS: Recorder Magazine, Summer 2000Back to Opening page
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