Fount & Origin, James Tomlinson – The Sword & the Lily: 15th-Century Polyphony for Judgement Day (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

Fount & Origin, James Tomlinson – The Sword & the Lily: 15th-Century Polyphony for Judgement Day (2022) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

In their debut album, early music ensemble Fount & Origin present a musical meditation on the Franco-Flemish painter Rogier van der Weyden’s altarpiece image of The Last Judgement at the End of time. This multi-panelled work survives as a monument of fifteenth-century art, relating in vivid detail and colour van der Weyden’s dynamic and terrifying account of the world’s final moments. The nine polyphonic settings recorded here were composed in Europe in the mid- to late-fifteenth century and include works by composers such as Johannes Ockeghem, Johannes Regis, Johannes Martini and Antoine Brumel, with each piece thematically tied to an element or figure in the painting.

Fretwork, David Skinner, Alamire – Byrd 1589 (2023) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

Fretwork, David Skinner, Alamire – Byrd 1589 (2023) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

Byrd’s first song collection was published in 1588. In the following year he writes that he had ‘bene encouraged thereby, to take further paines therein, and to make the pertaker thereof, because I would shew my selfe gratefull to thee for thy loue, and desirous to delight thee with varietie, whereof (in my opinion) no Science is more plentifully adorned then Musicke.’

David Skinner, Stephen Farr – Hieronymus Praetorius: Motets in 8, 10, 12, 16 & 20 Parts (2019) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

David Skinner, Stephen Farr – Hieronymus Praetorius: Motets in 8, 10, 12, 16 & 20 Parts (2019) [FLAC 24 bit, 96 kHz]

The large-scale works of Hieronymus Praetorius (1560–1629) owe much to the great polychoral tradition mastered by Hans Leo Hassler and the great Venetian composer Giovanni Gabrieli. Hieronymus does not disappoint with his vivid expression of texts, intricate counterpoint, and sumptuously sonorous and inventive harmonies: this is Northern Germany’s noble response to the Italians, and to the Roman Counter-Reformation.

Alamire & David Skinner – John Sheppard: Media Vita in Morte Sumus (2020) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

Alamire & David Skinner – John Sheppard: Media Vita in Morte Sumus (2020) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

When the Renaissance composer John Sheppard (c.1515-1558) shines he is beyond glorious, and the monumental six-part Media vita in morte sumus is undoubtedly among the greatest of his creations.

Alamire – Byrd 1588: Psalmes, Sonets & Songs of Sadnes and Pietie (2021) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

Alamire – Byrd 1588: Psalmes, Sonets & Songs of Sadnes and Pietie (2021) [FLAC 24bit, 96 kHz]

Following Tallis and Byrd’s first publishing venture of Cantiones Sacrae of 1575, Byrd waited some 13 years to again wake the presses with his compositions. His 1588 Psalmes, Sonets, & songs of sadnes and pietie was his first solo publication, for which Elizabeth’s Lord Chancellor (and notable favourite), Sir Christopher Hatton, acted as patron.