The Sun Most Radiant: Music from the Eton Choirbook, Vol. 4

Album review

This release is part of a series on the Avie label devoted to the Eton Choirbook, a collection of about 60 pieces (of an original 93) compiled at the beginning of the 16th century, and reflecting the various styles of the preceding decades. During this period, large polyphonic spaces gave way to the adoption of Continental cantus firmus and point-of-imitation techniques, with the process nicely illustrated on this group of four substantial pieces. The series has focused on lesser-known composers about whom in many cases little is known, and those here range from the vaguely familiar (John Browne) to the completely obscure (William Horwood and the elusive William, Monk of Stratford). The motet Gaude flore virginali by Horwood and the all-low-voice Salve Regina II of Browne have never been recorded before. The four pieces are broadly similar in style, with use of what later ages would think of as striking harmonic clashes, but let the individual pieces sink in a bit, and distinctions begin to emerge. Sample the five-part Magnificat à 4 of William, Monk of Stratford, with its imitation-like writing that's absent from the other works. The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, here under leader Stephen Darlington, is part of the long tradition that stretches back even before the music on this album, and their clear, precise, but in no way passionless performances are hard to fault. The early English Renaissance style will never be as popular as High Franco-Flemish counterpoint, but these musicians are expanding the repertory and giving listeners a handle on it in new and expert ways.
© TiVo