Byrd The Honour of William Byrd – Instrumental and Vocal Works Helen Charlston (mezzo-soprano) et al, Harry Buckoke (tenor viol); Chelys Consort of Viols BIS BIS-2663 (CD/SACD) 74:51 mins
The viol players of the Chelys Consort and guest performer Harry Buckoke are joined by BBC New Generation Artist Helen Charlston in a programme of works that give an insight into Byrd’s various loyalties – to his Catholic faith, the state (embodied by Queen Elizabeth I) and his friends and patrons. As has been pointed out in this 400th anniversary year of his death, such loyalties were not always clear cut.
The most intriguing work is the consort song ‘Wretched Albinus’ – ostensibly poking fun at the Earl of Essex following his execution for treason in 1601. But Essex was supportive of religious toleration, and the fact that the text was probably written by Catholic gentleman and Byrd music collector Edward Paston makes its account of the earl’s fall at the hands of ‘a silly woman’ ever so much more subversive. Other songs refer to recusant courtiers, Catholic sympathisers and underground priests. The public Byrd, meanwhile, celebrates his protestant queen in a pair of psalm settings and the madrigal ‘This sweet and merry month of May’.
Whether or not these vocal works were meant to be sung by male singers is debateable, but Helen Charlston’s rich, deep timbre make such distinctions irrelevant. Supple, controlled and vibrato free, she is sympathetically supported by a combination of treble, tenor and bass viols, which come into their own in Byrd’s complex but rhythmically appealing Fantasias. The instruments carry gut strings, giving them a raw, oily quality that is only slightly dulled by a dry recorded sound.
John-Pierre Joyce