CD Review
Byrd: Mass for 5 Voices, Dunedin Consort
- Composer
- Byrd
- Artist
- Dunedin Consort
- Label
- Delphian
- Catalogue
- DCD 34008
- Reviewed by
- Will Dawes
The Dunedin Consort’s latest disc is entitled In chains of gold and takes its name from a quote by Thomas Morley detailing how he thought singers should “draw the hearer … to the consideration of holy things.” Judging by singing of this quality, the gold in question here is 24 carat. The main work on the disc is William Byrd’s Mass for Five voices, complete with the appropriate liturgical plainsong after each part of the ordinary of the mass. It is accompanied by assorted motets by Tallis and Byrd as well as various snippets on Dunedin’s own organ, superbly played by John Kitchen. The highlight for me, however, is Byrd’s lively motet Gaudeamus Omnes. It’s the most substantial motet on the disc and it really sounds like the group particularly enjoyed recording this track. The singing is very slick, using Dunedin’s normal style of having only one singer on each part, making space for a more characterised performance than one using more than five singers. Also, the blending on the disc is superb, it is very difficult to distinguish which of the middle three parts is singing at any one time! This is the first Dunedin disc produced by Edinburgh based label, Delphian records, and the production quality is perfectly matched to the music. If I had to quibble about something, it is a shame that the track listing on the back of the CD is almost unreadable due the superimposition of the text onto the photo. Overall, this disc is a cracker and well worth adding to your collection, especially if it’s lacking in the music of the English renaissance.
About the ensemble
Dunedin Consort was formed in Edinburgh in 1995 by Susan Hamilton and Ben Parry, taking its name from Din Eidyn, the ancient Celtic name for Edinburgh Castle. In 2003 the conductor and musicologist John Butt joined as artistic director, a role he held (latterly as music director) for the following two decades while also serving as Gardiner Professor of Music at the University of Glasgow. Under Butt’s direction the ensemble’s characteristic one-voice-per-part approach to early vocal repertoire, heard on this disc in Byrd’s Mass for Five Voices, went on to earn two Gramophone Awards, for Handel’s Messiah in 2007 and Mozart’s Requiem in 2014, alongside a Grammy nomination and, in 2021, the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Ensemble Award.
A note on this page
Originally published by Will Dawes, recovered from mmmusic's own archive and reproduced here as the critic wrote it.
Questions about this recording
What's on this disc?
William Byrd's Mass for Five Voices, complete with the appropriate liturgical plainsong after each part of the ordinary of the mass, alongside motets by Byrd and Tallis, and organ pieces played by John Kitchen.
What's the disc called and where does the title come from?
The disc is titled "...In Chains of Gold...", a phrase from Thomas Morley's writing on how he thought singers should draw the listener toward the consideration of holy things.
How is the Byrd Mass performed here?
Using the Dunedin Consort's usual approach of one singer per part rather than a larger choir, allowing for a more individually characterised performance than a bigger ensemble typically achieves.
Is this recording still available to buy?
Yes, Delphian's catalogue number DCD 34008 remains findable through classical retailers. We don't run an in-house shop, so we link out to Amazon and Discogs below.
