Playing Elizabeth's Tune: Sacred Music By William Byrd [DVD]

I have had this DVD for a week now and have been playing it constantly - it is simply breathtaking. Having been a Tallis Scholars fan for many years it is easy to forget that the sumptuous sound they produce is made by real people with real voices; well here they are, in outstanding form and beautifully filmed. The music itself is quite out of this world, and the glorious 5.0 digital soundtrack does justice to the richness and complexity of the music in a way stereo never could.Forget about the second part of the disc, a documentary on Byrd made for television, and therefore necessarily a kind of 'Byrd for Dummies' to be watched once only if it all - this disc is all about the music on part one. The disc opens with 'Vigilate' a joyful, lively and uplifting piece which grabs you immediately; if you enjoyed that, the next piece will quite simply astound you. In 'Tristitia et Anxietas' the breadth of the Tallis Scholars' astonishing virtuosity is given full vein, the control, the expressivity, the immaculate sense of ensemble and the sheer beauty of the voices.Of course we are a million miles from 'bel canto' here or even from any traditional type of choral singing. There are never more than two voices to a part only, all completely without vibrato, and in Digital Surround sound one can hear every voice, even in the most complex 5 and 6 part motets. And watching them on DVD one can also see which voice belongs to whom, a fascinating experience. After a series of motets from various stages of Byrd's creative life, the Disc ends with the incomparably expressive masterpiece, the Mass for 4 Voices, in which the group surpass themselves in every way.The performance was recorded in Tewkesbury Abbey, where the acoustics are more resonant than St Peter & St Paul, Salle, where the group normally record. It is not live, i.e. there is no audience present, and the pieces were clearly recorded at different times of the day with different singers. My only criticism is the lack of any accompanying booklet with the DVD, made worse by the fact that there are no Latin subtitles even though most of the music is in Latin. But that is a minor worry, I can honestly say this is the best music DVD I have ever purchased, I only hope it is successful enough for Gimmel to produce many more.

The bonus is having the audio tracks in surround as well, albeit only in relatively low-def sound. In fact best shut your eyes and ignore the C-grade prowling camera work and close-ups of the performers, to realise how great is Byrd, Britain's best composer by some way, damn near as great as Bach, given the variety of work that survies from his hand (consort music and keyboard) but I always do find that the famous recusant's Latin church music surpasses the quality of his English liturgy efforts - for maybe obvious reasons...

I saw the documentary section of this dvd on television some years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. The historical context of Byrd's life, rather than being "Byrd for dummies" to quote a previous online reviewer, truly helped to set the scene for Byrd's remarkable music, particularly with reference to Byrd's (not very)secret Catholicism in a Protestant country.The English exam board OCR have set Byrd's Mass for Vour Voices as a set work for one of their new A2 historical topics, Music and Belief. This dvd is a very valuable resource for teachers and students. The Tallis Scholars give beautiful renditions of the music, both Catholic and Protestant, and Charles Hazlewood's delivery is easily understood, enthusiastic and full of important historical and musical facts.Understanding a composer's life helps us to understand his music eg imagine considering Shostakovich's music without finding out about his relationship with the Soviet authorities. This dvd brings a wealth of information on Byrd and the historical situation facing Catholics during the Reformation. It also has brilliant performances of important motets, anthems, services and masses, the beauty of which transcend any differences of doctrine between the differing strands of Christianity.

Excellent audio and video quality on this disk. Content was most informative for one who is trying is learn more about early music.

Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful!