The Deer's Cry. Album by The Sixteen

Album description

Whilst coming from very different eras, William Byrd and Arvo Pärt are both considered masters of sacred music despite having faced considerable persecution for their work. This programme presents six of William Byrd’s works from the Cantiones Sacrae including the monumental Tribue, Domine, and the mighty eight-voice motet Ad Dominum cum tribularer. The three works by Arvo Pärt speak in his unmistakable voice, with its unique blend of ancient and modern, and include his mesmerising Nunc dimittis which is crafted in his bell-like ‘tinitinnabuli’ style.

Artists

Behind-the-Scenes video

Reviews

'Music and singing of hypnotic beauty.'The Times

'the whole programme was spine-shiveringly radiant from first to last.' The Times (on The Deer's Cry concert in St Albans, 9 April 2016)

'The sum of this Choral Pilgrimage's parts is consort singing at its best.' The Telegraph (on The Deer's Cry concert in St John's College Chapel, 8 April 2016)

'Their [Pärt and Byrd's] choral writing has a simplicity and intensity, perfectly suited to the blended sound of The Sixteen.'  The Guardian

'These performances are well-nigh flawless. But the subtlety, the range, the juxtapositions of timbre are mesmerising.' Bachtrack

'The Sixteen's performance combines a scrupulous accuracy with a pregnant sense of ritual and contemplative mystery.' BBC Music Magazine

Track Listing

William Byrd (c.1540-1623)
1. Diliges Dominum
2. Christe qui lux es et dies

Arvo Pärt (b.1935)
3. The Deer’s Cry

Byrd
4. Emendemus in melius    

Pärt
5. The Woman with the Alabaster Box  

Byrd
6. Miserere mihi, Domine       
7. Ad Dominum cum tribularer      

Thomas Tallis (c.1505-85) / Byrd
8. Miserere nostri

Tallis
9. When Jesus went

Byrd
10. O lux beata Trinitas

Pärt
11. Nunc dimittis

Byrd
12. Laetentur coeli
13. Tribue, Domine

Total running time:  67 minutes