Byrd: Mass for Five Voices, Ave verum corpus, Lamentations & Other Works

The 1590s was not the time to be writing Masses in Protestant England. But William Byrd published three, explicitly for use in Catholic services which were both illegal and dangerous. The Gesualdo Six perform the Mass for Five Voices with one singer to a part, as it surely would have been sung in recusant houses. Moments of great delicacy (the opening of the “Agnus Dei”) are breathily delivered as if in secret, alternating with bold acclamations of Catholic loyalty (the start of the “Gloria”). Surrounding the Mass is a generous selection of motets. In Afflicti pro peccatis nostris, the singers enter one at a time with their signature calmness of purpose, building to beautifully balanced six-part textures. In the Lamentations the singers delight in Byrd’s alternation between clarity of expression and florid reverence.