Download Booklet

VIRGIN AND CHILD veneration of Mary makes it striking that a antiphonal passages Taverner deploys a panoply MUSIC FROM THE BALDWIN PARTBOOKS II good deal of the Marian polyphony composed of textures, ranging from chordal declamation to under Henry VIII and Mary Tudor survives in rich five-voice counterpoint, used climactically Elizabethan manuscript sources, the greatest to end sections of the motet and most gloriously of which is the ‘Baldwin partbooks’, copied of all at the concluding ‘amen’, where those 1 Gaude gloriosa Dei mater Thomas Tallis [18.33] during the 1570s and 80s by John Baldwin, who know the familiar version of the motet will 2 Mater Christi John Taverner [6.50] a member of the choir of St George’s Chapel, notice that Baldwin copied a strikingly decorated 3 Tota pulchra es Robert White [7.24] Windsor and later of the Chapel Royal. On final cadence. Among the chordal exclamations 4 Magnificat Thomas Tallis [5.30] this disc, the second in our series featuring in the piece are the invocations of Jesus by 5 Videte miraculum Thomas Tallis [13.20] music from the Baldwin partbooks, we present name, marked – as was typical during the some of the finest examples of Marian polyphony period – by sustained chords, a musical 6 Regina cæli Robert White [3.20] copied by Baldwin, encompassing a wide variety equivalent of genuflexion. 7 Ave Dei Patris filia Robert Fayrfax [10.25] of styles, and with a particular focus on texts 8 Verbum caro John Sheppard [9.56] celebrating Mary as mother of God, and on the A particularly imposing example of such a Virgin and her Child. vocal acclamation is heard at the words Total timings: [75.18] ‘ave Jesu’ in Robert Fayrfax’s Ave Dei Patris For example, the prayer Mater Christi 2 set filia 7, where its appearance is highlighted CONTRAPUNCTUS by John Taverner during the reign of Henry by an unanticipated shift in harmony. OWEN REES DIRECTOR VIII opens with a plea to Mary as the ‘most holy This monumental votive antiphon to Mary mother of Christ’ to ‘move your son to kindness’, represents an even older musical world than www.signumrecords.com so that the singers of the prayer and those does Taverner’s motet, the world of grandiose listening may dare to pray to her Son directly polyphony most famously represented by the in the second part of the motet. Taverner repertory of the Eton Choirbook copied at VIRGIN AND CHILD mediator, manifest not least in regular sung enhances the rhetorical impact of the prayer the opening of the sixteenth century. In such Music from the Baldwin Partbooks II devotions centring on splendid polyphonic votive through repetition: typically, the upper two English works divisions between sections of antiphons, was suppressed by the Protestant voices first sing a phrase of text (such as, text are usually marked by a change to a new Devotion to the Virgin Mary produced much of regimes of King Edward VI and his sister near the opening, ‘virgo sacrata Maria’), and combination of singers. These sections each the most glorious music of the early Tudor Queen Elizabeth, although between their reigns then the three lower voices repeat the same defined by their particular vocal scoring are period in England. That devotional world of it enjoyed a new flowering under Mary Tudor. music in an enriched form. Alongside these on a much larger scale that the antiphonal prayer to the ‘glorious mother of God’ as our The Elizabethan state’s antipathy to excessive

- 2 - - 3 - contrasts in Taverner’s Mater Christi. Thus line-endings. In the first five stanzas the author sense of perpetual flow. With this unvarying – if composed under Elizabeth – it would not Fayrfax sets the first of the eight stanzas for of the text found manifold ways to impart cantus-firmus ‘tread’ and the more active have received liturgical performance, as the the highest three voices, and the next to the the same message: Mary’s fourfold status as counterpoint in the free voices as the norm, Marian antiphon during the Easter season. lowest three, while for the third he marks the daughter of God the Father, mother of God moments of relative stasis and calm in entrance of the full ensemble with another the Son, bride of God the Holy Spirit, and White’s piece achieve a special quality, as The other two cantus-firmus works on the of the chordal ‘bows’ at ‘ave’. But despite its handmaid of the Trinity. The praise of at the tranquil setting of ‘imber abiit’ (‘the disc – Tallis’s Videte miraculum and Sheppard’s use of this long-established English method Mary as bride links this text with the Song rain is over’), and the beginning of the final Verbum caro – are among the greatest of constructing the piece by means of scoring- of Songs, that great love-poem of the Old invitation to the beloved, ‘Veni de Libano, veni masterpieces of this English genre. Tallis’s sections, Fayrfax’s writing also anticipates the Testament, Christian interpretations of which coronaberis’ (‘come from Lebanon; come, and extraordinarily long career extended from the more direct communication of text heard in frequently identified the female beloved you will be crowned’). 1520s until 1585 and so encompassed the Taverner’s Mater Christi: floridity of the kind therein as Mary. entire period of religious change in England found in many Eton-Choirbook works has been This technique of cantus-firmus writing is from the reign of Henry VIII to that of Elizabeth. stripped away much of the time, so that the The Song of Songs is the source for the text of employed also in White’s setting of another Videte miraculum 5, which might date either text is declaimed with simple lucidity by each Robert White’s Tota pulchra es 3. White was Marian antiphon, Regina cæli lætare 6, from Henry’s reign or Mary’s, ranks as one voice. The most unadorned writing achieves a chorister at Trinity College, Cambridge, in the included on this disc. This ebullient Eastertide of the greatest expressive works of Tudor a crystalline and poignant quality, as in the mid 1550s, and went on to hold a succession text calls on Mary ‘Queen of heaven’ to rejoice music. Its text – for the feast of the Purification extended duet between soprano and tenor of positions as Master of the Choristers, at at the resurrection of the Son she bore, the of the Blessed Virgin Mary – celebrates the for the ‘Ave plena gratia’ stanza in the second Ely Cathedral, Chester Cathedral, and finally celebratory message marked textually by the miracle and mystery of the virgin birth, half of the motet, although the music takes at Westminster Abbey until his death in 1574. recurrent ‘alleluias’ and musically by the and Tallis’s music evokes both mystery and flight into soaring melisma as the Although his composing career thus extended joyful chiming dialogues between the two wonder, highlighting the opening repeated penultimate syllable of the stanza is sung. across the first part of Elizabeth’s reign, equal upper voices. The acclamation of Mary declamation of the word ‘miraculum’ by Fayrfax’s relatively austere treatment of much it is likely that some at least of his Latin- as Queen of heaven at the opening of the text placing a dissonance on its stressed syllable of the text contrasts with the floridity of texted works were written during the reign of is at odds with the official attitudes of the each time. The music reaches a passionate the text itself, heard for example in Elizabeth’s elder sister, Mary. Tota pulchra es is Elizabethan church, in which the great climax as the free voices ecstatically repeat the extraordinary succession of superlative one of four pieces on this disc which represent feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin the name of Mary at the end of the second adjectives (‘nobilissima’, ‘dignissima’, etc) the strong English tradition of composing Mary – celebrating Mary’s bodily ascension into section of polyphony. In the polyphonic ending every line of the first three stanzas, richly-textured polyphony around a plainchant heaven – had been removed from the Calendar. responsory genre to which this piece belongs a construction which Fayrfax emphasises by cantus firmus moving steadily in semibreves, Either, then, White’s Regina cæli is an early- the polyphony falls into three sections, suspending the musical flow at many of these and thus lending the music a majestic career piece dating from the reign of Mary or which are initially sung without a break. After

- 4 - - 5 - the plainchant verse, the second and third of the text focuses on Mary’s role as merciful next dramatic ‘Gaude’ salutation, for all six spoken by Mary during her visit to her cousin sections only are repeated, and after the mediator on behalf of wretched sinners voices. The penultimate verse considers ‘the Elizabeth, when the infant John the Baptist plainchant Gloria the third section is heard and the condemned. Tallis’s handling of this eternal sufferings of hell’, evoked by Tallis leaps in Elizabeth’s womb and Elizabeth for a final time. Sheppard’sVerbum caro 8 monumental textual edifice is full of drama and with another gimell, this time involving acclaims Mary in the words incorporated in has the same form, but the affect of the piece contrast, achieved through manipulation of divided basses. From this vision of the infernal the Ave Maria: ‘blessed are you among women, contrasts with that of Videte miraculum: this scoring, pacing, and harmony. In accordance realm the last verse – again for the full and blessed is the fruit of your womb’. Tallis’s is an exultant setting of the famous account with the traditional English practice heard forces – moves to our hope of attaining setting of the Magnificat is a very fine but of the Incarnation from the beginning of also in Fayrfax’s Ave Dei Patris filia, the piece heavenly bliss with Mary’s aid, and Tallis rather curious one. When composers of this St John’s Gospel, and would have been begins with modest forces, two differently generates thrilling crowning points at ‘adesse period wrote in imitative style, they chose sung at Matins on Christmas Day. Counteracting scored trios (each setting one of the nine regnum cælorum’ and – through an uplifting or devised one motive for each phrase of the the duple metre maintained by the chant, verses of the text), but the second of these brightening of the harmony – in the closing text they were setting. However, Tallis lavishes Sheppard sets up triple rhythms in the free suddenly expands into six-voice writing to reflect moments of the ‘Amen’. a superabundance of material onto the voices to achieve ‘natural’ declamation of the word ‘omnia’ (‘all things’) at the end of verses of the Magnificat which are set in such phrases as ‘cuius gloriam’, ‘quasi the second verse of text, and the full six-voice Where we rely on the Baldwin partbooks as polyphony (the other verses are left in unigeniti’, and ‘plenum gratiæ’. Sheppard was a writing continues for the next two verses. our sole surviving source for a piece, the tenor plainchant), so that many phrases of the colleague of Tallis’s in Queen Mary’s Chapel For the ‘Gaude Virgo Maria’ verse Tallis part has to be restored editorially, since text are set twice over, with a different Royal, and had previously served as Informator employs that most distinctive of English unfortunately the tenor book is missing from motive or texture each time. Indeed, the choristarum at Magdalen College, Oxford. polyphonic techniques, gimell, dividing each the set. This situation applies to the setting piece gives the impression of a ‘show-case’ of the upper two parts to create a texture of of the Latin canticles Magnificat and Nunc of common imitative formulæ. But despite Standing at the pinnacle of the great Marian four interweaving high voices which are then dimittis by Tallis, of which the latter was these oddities it is a setting of great energy, motets of the Tudor period is Tallis’s Gaude joined by the bass. The next verse, for three included on our previous recording of works drama, and power. gloriosa Dei mater 1. Its text consists of a middle voices, is among the most harmonically from the partbooks, and the Magnificat 4 series of nine acclamations to the Virgin, each colourful and expressive passages of the features on the current disc, with a fresh Owen Rees © 2016 beginning with the word ‘gaude’ (as each of motet, with striking chromaticism used to reconstruction of the tenor part by myself. the seven acclamations of the Ave Dei Patris highlight Mary’s ascension in both body and The Magnificat was (and is) among the most filia text begins with ‘Ave’). The opening verses soul, and plaintive writing for the concluding frequently sung Marian text in the liturgy, salute Mary as mother of God and as heavenly supplication to her as mediator on our behalf, forming the canticle at Vespers and the queen, enthroned above the angels. As was ‘most wretched sinners’. This verse ends with first canticle at Anglican Evensong. The text common in such Marian texts, the latter part a melismatic climax leading straight into the originates in St Luke’s Gospel, as the words

- 6 - - 7 - TEXTS TRANSLATIONS et interventrix pro nobis miserrimis peccatoribus, you as aid and mediator for us most wretched supplicamus. sinners. 1 Gaude gloriosa Dei mater Gaude Maria, intercessorum adiutrix et Rejoice Mary, renowned helper of those who pray Gaude gloriosa Dei mater, virgo Maria vere Rejoice, O glorious mother of God, Virgin Mary, damnandorum salvatrix celebranda. for us and saviour of the condemned. honorificanda, quæ a Domino in gloria super who in truth are to be honoured, who – exalted choros exaltata adepta es thronum. above the heavenly choirs by the Lord – are Gaude sancta Virgo Maria, cuius prece omnes Rejoice, O holy Virgin Mary, by whose prayer we are worthy of a throne. salvamur a perpetuis inferorum suppliciis et a all saved from the eternal suffering of hell, and potestate diabolica liberati. freed from the power of the devil. Gaude Virgo Maria, cui angelicæ turmæ dulces in Rejoice, O Virgin Mary, to whom the angelic cælis resonant laudes: iam enim lætaris visione host sing their sweet praises: for now you rejoice Gaude Virgo Maria, Christi benedicta mater, vena Rejoice, O Virgin Mary, blessed mother of Christ, Regis cui omnia serviunt. in the sight of the King whom all things serve. misericordiæ et gratiæ, cui supplicamus ut nobis channel of mercy and grace, whom we beseech pie clamantibus attendas, itaque tuo iuvamine that you hear our cries of devotion, so that in Gaude concivis in cælis sanctorum, quæ Christum Rejoice, fellow-citizen with the saints in heaven, mereamur adesse cælorum regnum. Amen. your name we may be deemed worthy to enter the in utero illaesa portasti: igitur Dei mater digne you who bore Christ in your womb unimpaired. kingdom of heaven. Amen. appellaris. Therefore worthily you are called mother of God. 2 Mater Christi Gaude flos florum speciosissima, virga iuris, forma Rejoice, flower most fair of all flowers, rod of morum, fessi cura, pes labentis, mundi lux, et the law, model of virtue, succour of the weary, Mater Christi sanctissima, virgo sacrata Maria, Most holy mother of Christ, blessed Virgin Mary, by peccatorum refugium. support for those who stumble, light of the tuis orationibus benignum redde filium, unica spes your prayers move your Son to kindness, Mary, our world, and refuge of sinners. nostra Maria; nam precibus nitentes tuis rogare only hope; for relying on your prayers we dare to audemus filium. beseech your Son. Gaude Virgo Maria, quam dignam laude celebrat Rejoice, O Virgin Mary, whom the church ecclesia, quæ Christi doctrinis illustrata te celebrates as worthy of praise, and – enlightened Ergo fili decus patris Jesu, fons fecundissime And so, O Son Jesus, glory of the Father, most matrem glorificat. by the teachings of Christ – glorifies you as a quo vivæ fluunt aquæ, rigantes fida pectora, abundant spring from which living waters flow His mother. O Jesu, vitalis cibus te pure manducantibus, refreshing faithful hearts, O Jesus, food of salutari potu et cibo pavisti nostra viscera. Tua life for those who chastely feed on you, you have Gaude Virgo Maria, quæ corpore et anima ad Rejoice, O Virgin Mary, who in body and soul are pasce animam gracia, et reple sancto spiritu nourished our bodies with food and drink that summum provecta es palacium: et, ut auxiliatrix taken up into the highest palace: and we beseech quorum refecisti corpora. Quin et nostras, Jesu brings salvation. With your grace feed the soul;

- 8 - - 9 - bone, mentes illustra gracia, et nos pie fac vivere and fill with the Holy Spirit the bodies of those Fecit potentiam in brachio suo: dispersit superbos He has shown strength with his arm: he has ut dulci ambrosia tuo vescamur in palacio. whom you have fed. Even more, good Jesus, mente cordis sui. scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. illuminate our minds with grace, and make us Deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles. He has brought down the mighty from their seat, live so religiously that we may feed upon sweet Esurientes implevit bonis, et divites dimisit and has lifted up the humble. ambrosia in your palace. Amen. inanes. He has filled the hungry with good things, and has Suscepit Israel puerum suum, recordatus sent the rich away empty. 3 Tota pulchra es misericordiæ suæ, He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance sicut locutus est ad patres nostros, Abraham et of his mercy, Tota pulchra es amica mea, et macula non est You are wholly beautiful my love, and there is no semini eius in sæcula. as he said to our ancestors, Abraham and his in te; favus distillans labia tua, mel et lac sub stain on you; your lips are a dripping honeycomb, Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, descendants forever. lingua tua; odor unguentorum tuorum super honey and milk under your tongue; the fragrance sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper, Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the omnia aromata. Iam enim hiems transiit, imber of your perfumes surpasses all scents. For now et in sæcula sæculum. Amen. Holy Ghost, abiit et recessit; flores apparuerunt, vineæ the winter has passed, the rain is over and gone; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall florentes odorem dederunt, et vox turturis flowers have appeared, the flowers of the vine give be, world without end. Amen. audita est in terra nostra. Surge, propera, amica out their scent, and the voice of the turtle dove is mea, veni de Libano; veni, coronaberis. heard in our land. Arise, hasten, my beloved, come 5 Videte miraculum from Lebanon; come, and you will be crowned. Videte miraculum matris Domini: concepit virgo Behold the miracle of the mother of our Lord: the 4 Magnificat virilis ignara consortii, stans onerata nobili onere virgin has conceived though she knew not a man, Maria; et matrem se lætam cognoscit, quæ se Mary, standing laden with her noble burden; and Magnificat anima mea Dominum, My soul magnifies the Lord, nescit uxorem. she is glad, knowing that she is a mother, and et exultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my saviour, Hæc speciosum forma præ filiis hominum castis knowing that she is not a wife. quia respexit humilitatem ancillæ suæ. Ecce enim for he has regarded the lowliness of his concepit visceribus, et benedicta in æternum She has conceived in her chaste womb one who ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes, handmaiden. For behold from now on all Deum nobis protulit et hominem. is more beautiful than the sons of men, and— quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est, et sanctum generations shall call me blessed, Stans onerata…uxorem. blessed for ever—she has brought forth God and nomen eius, for he who is mighty has done great things for me, Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto. man for us. et misericordia eius a progenie in progenies and holy is his name, Et matrem…uxorem. Mary, standing laden… timentibus eum. and his mercy is for those who fear him from Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the generation to generation. Holy Ghost. And she is glad…

- 10 - - 11 - 6 Regina cæli lætare Ave, Hail, Jesu tui filli dulcis filia, sweet daughter of your son Jesus, Regina cæli lætare, alleluia: Rejoice, queen of heaven, alleluia: Christi Dei tui mater alma, loving mother of Christ your God, quia quem meruisti portare, alleluia, for he whom you were worthy to bear, alleluia, Sponsi sponsa sine ulla macula, immaculate bride of the bridegroom, resurrexit sicut dixit, alleluia. has arisen as he said, alleluia. Deitatis ancilla sessioni proxima. handmaid of God, near whom you are seated. Ora pro nobis Deum, alleluia. Pray to God for us, alleluia. Ave, Hail, 7 Ave Dei Patris filia Domini filia, singulariter generosa, daughter of the Lord, singularly noble, Domini mater singulariter gloriosa, mother of the Lord, singularly glorious, Ave, Hail, Domini sponsa, singulariter speciosa, bride of the Lord, singularly beautiful, Dei Patris filia nobilissima, most noble daughter of God the Father, Domini ancilla, singulariter obsequiosa. handmaid of the Lord, singularly obedient. Dei Filii mater dignissima, most worthy mother of God the Son, Dei Spiritus sponsa venustissima, most graceful bride of God the Spirit, Ave, Hail, Dei unius et trini ancilla subjectissima. most obedient handmaid of God the one and three. plena gratia, poli regina, queen of heaven, full of grace, misericoriæ mater, meritis præclare, mother of mercy, pre-eminent in merits, Ave, Hail, mundi domina, a patriarchis præsignata, mistress of the world, foretold by patriarchs, summæ æternitatis filia clementissima, most merciful daughter of highest eternity, Imperatrix inferni, a prophetis præconizata. empress of hell, announced by prophets. summæ veritatis mater piissima, most pious mother of highest truth, summæ bonitatis sponsa benignissima, most kind bride of highest goodness, Ave, Hail, summæ Trinitatis ancilla mitissima. most mild handmaid of highest Trinity. virgo fœta ut sol, præelecta, fruitful virgin, unique as the sun, mater intacta, sicut luna perpulchra; spotless mother, fair as the moon; Ave, Hail, salve parens inclita, enixa puerpera, Hail renowned mother, who laboured in childbirth, Æternæ caritatis filia desideratissima, most desired daughter of eternal love, stella maris præfulgida, felix cæli porta. glittering star of the sea, blessed gate of heaven. Æternæ sapientiæ mater gratissima, most dear mother of eternal wisdom, Æternæ spirationis sponsa sanctissima, most holy bride of the eternal spirit, Esto nobis via recta ad æterna gaudia, Be for us a straight path to eternal joy, Coæternæ majestatis ancilla sincerissima. most pure handmaid of coeternal majesty. ubi pax est et gloria, where there is peace and glory, O gloriosissima semper virgo Maria. Amen. O most glorious ever-virgin Mary. Amen.

- 12 - - 13 - 8 Verbum caro CONTRAPUNCTUS

Verbum caro factum est et habitavit in nobis, The word was made flesh and dwelt among us, Director Tenor cuius gloriam vidimus quasi unigeniti a Patri, and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of Owen Rees Guy Cutting plenum gratiæ et veritatis. the Father, Ashley Turnell (4, 5) Soprano In principio erat verbum et verbum erat apud full of grace and truth. Simon Wall (1-4 & 6-8) Deum, et Deus erat verbum. In the beginning was the word, and the word was Esther Brazil (tracks 1, 3, 8) Bass Cuius gloriam… with God, and the word was God. Amy Haworth (1, 2) Greg Skidmore Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto. and we beheld… Ruth Provost (1 & 3-8) Giles Underwood Plenum gratiæ et veritatis. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Roya Stuart-Rees Jonathan Arnold (1) Holy Ghost. Alto Full of grace of truth. Rory McCleery Matthew Venner

Coupling powerful interpretations with path- Festival in Antwerp, the Utrecht Early Music breaking scholarship, Contrapunctus presents Festival, the Festival van Vlaanderen in Mechelen music by the best known composers as well and Averbode, the Music Sacra Festival in as unfamiliar masterpieces. The group’s Maastricht, the Festival de Música Antigua repertoire is drawn from England, the Low de Úbeda y Baeza in Spain, the Eboræ Musica Countries, Spain, Portugal and Germany, Festival and Setúbal Festival in Portugal, the particularly in the sixteenth and seventeenth concert series at De Bijloke in Ghent, and centuries. The scholarly facet of the group’s the Martin Randall Festival of Spanish Music work – including the discovery of long- (Seville Cathedral). The ensemble’s first two lost music and reconstructions of original recordings, Libera nos and In the Midst of performing contexts – allows audiences to Life, were both shortlisted for the Gramophone experience the first performances of many Early Music Award. As Vocal Consort in works in modern times. Since its foundation Residence at the University of Oxford, the in 2010, the group has appeared in the AMUZ group is a collaborator in the Tudor Partbooks

- 14 - - 15 - Project, the aim of which is to study the of the repertories they contain, and to broaden OWEN REES Baldwin partbooks and other sets of Tudor public knowledge of this repertory. partbooks, to restore the missing voice parts www.contrapunctus.org.uk Owen Rees is both performer and scholar, his scholarship consistently informing his performances. Through his extensive work as a choral director, he has brought to the concert hall and recording studio substantial repertories of magnificent Renaissance and Baroque music, including many previously unknown or little-known works from Portugal and Spain. His interpretations of these repertories have been acclaimed as ‘rare examples of scholarship and musicianship combining to result in performances that are both impressive and immediately attractive to the listener’, and he has been described as ‘one of the most energetic and persuasive voices’ in this field.

He has been Director of Music at The Queen’s College, Oxford, since 1997, and is Professor in Music at the University of Oxford. He began his conducting career while studying at Cambridge, and after graduating directed the Cambridge Taverner Choir from 1987 and A Capella recordings encompass a wide variety of Portuguesa from 1990. He has conducted at choral repertory from the Renaissance to festivals worldwide, and is in demand as a contemporary music, and his work has three leader of workshops on performance of times been shortlisted for the Gramophone Renaissance polyphony. His numerous CD Early Music Award.

- 16 - - 17 - ALSO AVAILABLE on signumclassics

This recording was made possible through funding by the John Fell Oxford University Press (OUP) Research Fund, which we gratefully acknowledge.

Recorded in the Church of St Michael and All Angels, Oxford, from 19th to 21st April 2016. Editions by Owen Rees Producer – Adrian Peacock Recording Engineer and Mixer – David Hinitt Editors – Dave Rowell, Robin Hawkins

Cover Image – Shutterstock Design and Artwork – Woven Design www.wovendesign.co.uk

Any unauthorised broadcasting, public performance, copying or re-recording of Signum Compact Discs constitutes an infringement of copyright and will render the infringer liable to an action by law. Licences for public performances or broadcasting may be obtained from Phonographic Performance Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this booklet may be reproduced, stored Libera nos: The Cry of the Oppressed In the Midst of Life: Music from the Baldwin Partbooks I in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from Signum Records Ltd. Contrapunctus, Owen Rees Contrapunctus, Owen Rees SIGCD338 SIGCD408 SignumClassics, Signum Records Ltd., Suite 14, 21 Wadsworth Road, Perivale, Middx UB6 7JD, UK. +44 (0) 20 8997 4000 E-mail: [email protected] “...this exemplary disc... Anguished masterpieces are juxtaposed “What an absolutely superb disc, both musically and www.signumrecords.com with discoveries, including a convincing new vocal version of musicologically! ... The recital appropriately concludes with Tallis’s (hitherto instrumental) Libera nos. Pristine performances John Sheppard’s massive and magnifcent Media Vita - listen by Owen Rees’s Contrapunctus choir...” out for the wonderful final verse, with its typically English gimell The Times in both the treble and mean, supported by the bass, far below. Extraordinary music, gloriously performed!” Early Music Review

Available through most record stores and at www.signumrecords.com For more information call +44 (0) 20 8997 4000

- 20 - - 19 - - 20 - CTP Template: CD_INL1 COLOURS Compact Disc Back Inlay CYAN MAGENTA Customer SignumClassics YELLOW Catalogue No.SIGCD474 BLACK Job Title: Virgin and Child

SIGNUM CLASSICS SIGCD474

VIRGIN AND CHILD CHILD AND VIRGIN VIRGIN AND CHILD MUSIC FROM THE BALDWIN PARTBOOKS II

1 Gaude gloriosa Dei mater Thomas Tallis [18.33] 2 Mater Christi John Taverner [6.50] 3 Tota pulchra es Robert White [7.24] 4 Magniﬁcat Thomas Tallis [5.30] 5 Videte miraculum Thomas Tallis [13.20] CONTRAPUNCTUS / REES REES / CONTRAPUNCTUS CONTRAPUNCTUS / REES 6 Regina cæli Robert White [3.20] 7 Ave Dei Patris ﬁlia Robert Fayrfax [10.25] 8 Verbum caro John Sheppard [9.56]

Total timings: [75.18] VIRGIN AND CHILD

CONTRAPUNCTUS OWEN REES DIRECTOR

LC15723

Signum Records Ltd, Suite 14, 21 Wadsworth SIGCD474