Most listeners who love English choral music–whatever the period–will own multiple recordings of William Byrd’s church works, from the Latin motets and masses to the four dozen or so English anthems. Somewhere in those collections more than likely resides a copy of the Cambridge Singers’ initial 1989 release of this program of motets and anthems, now reissued at mid-price. If you missed it the first time around, now’s the time to indulge in this first-rate CD that includes the masterpiece Ave verum Corpus along with the intensely moving but rarely heard penitential motets Emendemus in melius and Plorans plorabit and the equally inspired English anthems Sing joyfully and Turn our captivity. Unlike the Tallis Scholars (whose Byrd recordings for the most part don’t duplicate the repertoire featured here), John Rutter’s Cambridge Singers produce a tone that accommodates a certain measure of vibrato and exhibits a choral sound of more “modern” color–a bit warmer than most early-music specialist groups but never lacking in clarity or definition among parts. This is singing (and direction) of the highest caliber, and you won’t find more satisfying performances of Byrd’s works anywhere on disc. The sound is appropriately bright, well-balanced, and resonant, and all is perfectly capped by Collegium’s usual superb liner notes and neat packaging. [1/18/2003]
