The Cardinall's Musick
The Cardinall's Musick is one of England's highly acclaimed early music choral ensembles. It specializes in pre-Reformation English vocal and choral music, though it has sung repertoire as recent as the Gloria of 20th century French composer Francis Poulenc.
The Cardinall's Musick was founded in 1989 by Andrew Carwood and David Skinner. Carwood, a Cambridge graduate and professional solo and consort singer, and Skinner, an American musicologist from California who moved to the United Kingdom in 1987, were then both lay clerks at Christ Church, Oxford. They continue to direct the ensemble, with Carwood predominantly tending to the musical performances and Skinner doing more of the research and editing that produces the fresh, accurate editions of the music that are Cardinall's Musick's trademark. Skinner invariably goes back to the original manuscript sources of the music or to music printed during the composer's lifetime.
The ensemble was originally an all-male group. When the British record company ASV asked Cardinall's Musick to record music of Nicholas Ludford in 1991, Carwood and Skinner added higher voices to the group. From the beginning, Carwood's approach was to produce a rich and vibrant sound that is far removed from the dry results too often produced by some historically-based singing groups. He encourages the singers to sing out like soloists within the consort, and to express the meaning of the texts, which are usually Catholic. The Daily Telegraph newspaper even went so far as to describe their sound as "erotic," presumably meaning to bestow praise.
The Cardinall's Musick quickly gained fame among British Renaissance music groups, and appeared at the major festivals (Spitalfields, Aldeburgh, the BBC Proms, and the South Bank, to name a few) and major concert stages of the country. It has also given concerts in France, and makes frequent appearances on BBC's Radio 3.
It recorded primarily on the ASV label and then on Hyperion, but also on Gaudeamus and Meridian, producing recordings of the complete known music of Robert Fayrfax, the festal Masses and Antiphons of Nicholas Ludford, Cornysh's Magnificat and Salve Regina, Merbecke's Missa per arme iustitie, and, reflecting a decision to broaden its musical base, a highly acclaimed recording of the Missa Gaudeamus by the great Spanish composer Tomás Luis de Victoria.
Its major recording project was an ambitious traversal of the complete works of William Byrd, the prolific and great English Catholic composer who left a vast body of works. This project would become the first integral recording of the works of any of the major Renaissance composers. They are recorded in the resplendent acoustics of the Fitzalan Chapel of Arundel Castle, one of the major locations of continued Catholic worship during the Tudor repression of that faith and site of one of Elizabethan England's greatest music libraries. The series was completed on Hyperion in 2010 with the album Infelix Ego, which was only the second early music disc ever to be named Gramophone Recording of the Year.
Cardinall's Musick also sings a selection of 20th century music, including Palm-Sunday, a work it commissioned from Michael Finnissy. Its recordings have won the Gramophone Award for Early Music, the French Diapason d'Or, the German Schallplattenkritik Preis, and the Schallplatten Echo Award.
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Similar artists
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Cornysh, Turges, Prentes: Latin Church Music
The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood, David Skinner
Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 1 Jun 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Palestrina: Stabat Mater; Magnificat tertii toni
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Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 1 Jan 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ludford: Missa Lapidaverunt Stephanum; Ave Maria ancilla trinitatis
The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood, David Skinner
Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 1 Jan 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sheppard: Mass "Be Not Afraide" - Music for St Stephen's Day
Classical - Released by Meridian Records on 22 Sep 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lassus: Missa Surge propera; Magnificat quarti toni
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Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 1 Jan 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fayrfax: Miss Albanus; O Maria Deo grata; Eterne laudis lilium etc
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Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 1 Nov 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Victoria: Missa Gaudeamus; Missa Pro Victoria; Motets
The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood
Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Byrd: Cantiones sacrae 1589; Propers for the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Byrd Edition 8)
The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood, David Skinner
Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 4 Nov 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Byrd: Early Latin Church Music; Propers for Lady Mass in Advent (Byrd Edition 1)
The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood, David Skinner
Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 3 Oct 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fayrfax: Missa O quam glorifica; Ave Dei patris filia
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Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 20 Jun 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Byrd:Cantiones sacrae 1589; Propers for Lady Mass from Christmas to the Purification (Byrd Edition 7)
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Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Byrd: Cantiones Sacrae 1575 (Byrd Edition 4)
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Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 1 Nov 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Merbecke: Missa Per arma iustitie etc.
The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood, David Skinner
Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 1 Jul 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ludford: Missa Benedicta et venerabilis
The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood, David Skinner
Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 1 Jan 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ludford: Missa Videte miraculum; Ave cuius conceptio
The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood, David Skinner
Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 1 Jan 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tallis: Spem in alium & Other Sacred Music
The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 28 Oct 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fayrfax: Missa Regali ex progenie; Lauda vivi Alpha et O; Magnificat Regali
The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood, David Skinner
Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 18 May 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ludford: Missa Christi virgo dilectissima; Domine Ihesu Christe
The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood, David Skinner
Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 1 Jan 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hieronymus Praetorius: Magnificats & Motets
The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 1 Oct 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fayrfax: Missa Tecum principium; Maria plena virtute etc
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Classical - Released by Decca (UMO) on 14 Nov 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Byrd: Hodie Simon Petrus & Other Sacred Music (Byrd Edition 11)
The Cardinall's Musick, Andrew Carwood
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 1 Feb 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo