Tune thy Musicke to thy Hart: Tudor & Jacobean music for private devotion Stile Antico & Fretwork

• THOMAS TOMKINS (1572 – 1656)
• 1O praise the Lord03:45
• JOHN AMNER (? – 1641)
• 2O ye little flock07:06
• JOHN TAVERNER (c.1490 – 1545)
• 3In nomine02:03
• ROBERT RAMSEY (1590 – 1644)
• 4How are the mighty fall'n - Gloria06:29
• THOMAS TALLIS (c.1505 – 1585)
• 5Purge me, O Lord01:51
• JOHN AMNER
• 6A stranger here - Sanctus & Benedictus05:04
• ROBERT PARSONS (c.1530 – 1570)
• 7In nomine a4 no.102:35
• JOHN BROWNE (fl.1480 – 1505)
• 8Jesu, mercy, how may this be? - Agnus Dei10:03
• ROBERT PARSONS (c.1530 – 1570)
• 9In nomine a4 no.202:19
• GIOVANNI CROCE (c.1557 – 1609)
• 10From profound centre of my heart04:36
• JOHN DOWLAND (1562/63 – 1626)
• 11I shame at my unworthiness02:21
• THOMAS CAMPION (c.1567 – 1619)
• 12Never weather-beaten sail02:39
• WILLIAM BYRD (c.1540 – 1623)
• 13Why do I use my paper, ink and pen?02:30
• THOMAS TOMKINS (1572 – 1656)
• 14When David heard05:03
• ORLANDO GIBBONS (1583 – 1625)
• 15See, see, the Word is incarnate06:18
• Total Runtime01:04:42

Info for Tune thy Musicke to thy Hart: Tudor & Jacobean music for private devotion

For its latest recording on Harmonia Mundi, Stile Antico is joined by the outstanding viol consort Fretwork to explore the wealth of sacred music written not for church performance, but for the court and for the home. Sung entirely in English, this fascinating programme spans two centuries and a vast range of styles, from the austerity of Browne and Taverner to the harmonic daring of Tomkins and Ramsey, and from the smallest works by Campion and Dowland to the great verse anthems of Gibbons and Amner.

'We are enjoined by this fine recital to bring nuance to distinctions between sacred and secular, and what we sometimes sloppily assume to be public and private modes of musical expression in 16th-century England. The very concept of ‘private musical devotion’ we might melodramatically associate with priest-holes, and Byrd’s Mass for Four Voices in a wardrobe. Some wardrobe it would have to be to accommodate the 12 exultant voices of Tomkins’s O praise the Lord, which is one instance of several on the album where the conceit is stretched thin: just because the piece survives in a private (as opposed to ecclesiastical) collection doesn’t mean that is its natural home. What’s more important is that Stile Antico’s sleek tuning and supple attention to words, and the studio recording, intimate but not claustrophobic, do bring a carefully plotted span (over 120 years) of sacred styles into our listening rooms with rare success.

The 12 singers don’t go all out for the full-blooded staging of madrigalian word-painting that we’d hear from The Cardinall’s Musick, and they use less vibrato than some long-established groups, but they no less effectively build the structures of verse anthems by Gibbons and Amner. The latter’s A stranger here is a remarkable discovery for me, with its culminating, dissonant Amen. Amid such rich Jacobean harmonies, the restrained precision of Browne’s carol Jesu, mercy effects a welcome shock to the listening ear. Melancholy introspection is banished at length by Gibbons’s embrace of the entire Incarnation, sung not with the haloed eloquence of the Clerkes of Oxenford but rather the keen interplay of Red Byrd, only without the artfully local pronunciation. To have Fretwork on hand is a further boon.' (Peter Quantrill, Gramophone)

Stile Antico:
Helen Ashby, soprano
Kate Ashby, soprano
Rebecca Hickey, soprano
Emma Ashby, alto
Eleanor Harries, alto
Carris Jones, alto
Jim Clements, tenor
Andrew Griffiths, tenor
Benedict Hymas, tenor (*soloist on Track 13)
Will Dawes, bass
Oliver Hunt, bass
Matthew O’Donovan, bass
Fretwork

Stile Antico
is an ensemble of young British singers, now established as one of the most original and exciting voices in its field. Much in demand in concert, the group performs regularly throughout Europe and North America. Their recordings on the harmonia mundi label have enjoyed great success, winning awards including the Diapason d’or de l’année and the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, and have twice attracted GRAMMY nominations. Their release Song of Songs won the 2009 Gramophone Award for Early Music and reached the top of the US Classical Chart.

Working without a conductor, the members of Stile Antico rehearse and perform as chamber musicians, each contributing artistically to the musical result. Their performances have repeatedly been praised for their vitality and commitment, expressive lucidity and imaginative response to text. Stile Antico’s recent engagements include debuts at the BBC Proms, London’s Wigmore and Cadogan Halls, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, early music festivals in Boston, Bruges, Barcelona and Utrecht, and at the Cervantino Festival in Mexico. The group has toured extensively with Sting, appearing across Europe, Australia and the Far East as part of his Dowland project Songs from the Labyrinth, and is regularly invited to lead courses at Dartington International Summer School.

Fretwork
Few ensembles can match the breadth of Fretwork’s repertory, which ranges from the first printed collection published in 1501 in Venice to music commissioned by the group this year. In the 25 years since its debut, Fretwork’s pioneering work has taken its members all over the world. Their consistently high standards have brought music old and new to audiences hitherto unfamiliar with the inspiring sound-world of the viol.

Fretwork’s acclaimed recordings of the classic English viol repertory – Purcell, Gibbons, Lawes, Byrd – have become the benchmark by which other performances are measured. Its arrangements of the music of J. S. Bach have garnered particular praise. Released in 2009, the harmonia mundi recording of Purcell’s Complete Fantazias won the Gramophone Award for Baroque Chamber Music.

Booklet for Tune thy Musicke to thy Hart: Tudor & Jacobean music for private devotion