Byrd: Mass for Four Voices; Mass for Five Voices; Infelix ego

William [Composer] Byrd (Composer), Jeremy Summerly (Conductor), Oxford Camerata (Orchestra), James Gilchrist (Performer), Robin Blaze (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: James Gilchrist, Robin Blaze
• Orchestra: Oxford Camerata
• Conductor: Jeremy Summerly
• Composer: William [Composer] Byrd
• Audio CD (February 15, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B0000013U8
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,677 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #43 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Renaissance (c.1450-1600) > Composers

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intense devotion, splendid performance!, March 2, 2005

By 

Eric Brendan Chang (Kingston Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Byrd: Mass for Four Voices; Mass for Five Voices; Infelix ego (Audio CD)

Amongst the greatest late-Renaissance, sacred-music composers- Paletrina, Lassus, Tomas Luis de Victoria, Thomas Tallis, William Byrd- I have to confess that De Victoria and William Byrd caught my heart above all else.

De Victoria's music expresses a range of emotions, soulfulness and passion that would stretch you upward as if some sort of heavenly power is pulling you from above. You can always feel his music pulsating in your ears-a feeling that Palestrina could not, or rather, refrained from giving to his listeners.

Byrd's music, on the other hand, seems to embody a set of different spiritual idioms from all others. His music is powerful, emotional, yet in a more subjective expressiveness than even the music of De Victoria. His sacred music, especially for the Roman rites, seems coming straight from his heart, as if one can hear his despair, sorrow, cries for deliverance, and hope in his masses and motets. I think it must have something to do with his situation as a member of the persecuted Catholics in England during his time.

The masses and the motet Infelix Ego on this CD is a great place to approach Byrd's sacred music. I love these masterpices so much that words cannot adequately describe them. The minute when I started playing this disc, the music just seemed to be burning in my heart like an autumnal fire- it's touching, it's powerful, and it's affirming the mysteries of faith.

The performance by Oxford Camerata with Jeremy Summerly as Conductor is first-class. With Naxos's bargain price, do not hesitate further. Snatch it up if you like Renaissance music, or sacred music in general. Check out William Byrd's masterpieces yourself.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars Aren't Enough, July 15, 2008

By 

R. Bauer (Virginia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Byrd: Mass for Four Voices; Mass for Five Voices; Infelix ego (Audio CD)

Note: I bought this album on eMusic and so have no knowledge of the booklet or packaging of the album for sale on Amazon. I would hope that the booklet provides the English and Latin (and Greek for the Kyrie) translations, as the translation for the Infelix ego is especially hard to find. This is also not meant as a full review or history of the pieces; those have already been covered by other reviewers.

The clarity of the voices is just astounding on this recording; it's not careful power as other groups seem to prefer, but rather seems like barely-restrained excitement. All three pieces are astoundingly gorgeous and well-done, with the "miserere mei Deus" of Infelix ego being heart-stopping in its beauty. This is one of my very favorite albums and it may be the one I'd most want if stuck on a desert island (although, being Catholic, I'm a little biased). I regularly find myself humming the beginning of the Gloria throughout the day, as well as the Agnus Dei from the same work.

The only "complaint" I can find in this is that I might (might) have preferred to have Infelix ego at either the beginning or the end of the album rather than between the two settings of the Mass. Perhaps additionally, I'm so blown away by the Infelix ego and Mass for Five Voices that I don't believe that I've given the Mass for Four Voices the full and careful listening it clearly deserves, as I simply can't clear my head of the anticipation for the other two works enough to properly enjoy it.

This has been a rave review, and if there were anything in the sound quality, musicianship, arrangement, or anything else to detract from the album I would be sure to mention it, but there isn't.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vivid, December 5, 2007

By 

Tanis "Tanis Yvonne Somerville" (Seahurst, Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Byrd: Mass for Four Voices; Mass for Five Voices; Infelix ego (Audio CD)

This coupling from the Oxford Camerata represents one of Naxo's most enticing bargains. The full-throated singing has spontaneous ardour but no lack of repose in the music's more serene moments. Summerly offers the motet, Infelix ego, as a bonus. These readings are distinctive in a different way from those by the Tallis Scholars. The recording is outstandingly vivid.