Tune thy Musicke to thy Hart: Tudor & Jacobean Music / Stile Antico, - Harmonia

On Tune thy Musicke to thy Hart, the choral ensemble Stile Antico, joined by the acclaimed viol consort Fretwork, explores a long neglected repertory: the wealth of Tudor and Jacobean sacred music written for domestic devotion, rather than for church worship. Culled from collections intended for use in private homes, these pieces by Tomkins, Campion, Byrd, Tallis, Dowland, Gibbons and others, offer a unique insight into the turbulent religious climate of the time and the thriving musical culture at its heart. The album features a capella and accompanied vocal works framed by instrumental solos played by Fretwork.

"We are, perhaps, in a wood-panelled Elizabethan hall, where in the early 17th century the family of a large house gather for their private prayer. Voices and viols mix in harmony, ranging from the familiar simplicity of Thomas Campion's "Never weather-beaten sail" to the elaborate verse anthem by Orlando Gibbons's "See, see the word is incarnate", the whole story of salvation condensed into six superb minutes. Tallis, Tomkins and Byrd are here, but the revelation is the little-known John Amner, whose "A stranger here" reaches a climax of rare dissonant intensity, powerfully sung. Another triumph for the superb Stile Antico ensemble and Fretwork." -The Guardian

The Telegraph
The performances are wonderfully fresh, revelling in the harmonic false relations and affectingly attentive to the import of the words.

Sunday Times
The beautifully blended voices of Stile Antico give this music with all the intensity that its emotional content merits. But then every work here fairly burns itself on the heart.

BBC Music Magazine
A varied treasure trove of seldom heard but extremely affecting music, nicely sung and spliced together with some darkly-glittering string In Nomines played by Fretwork... [They] easily persuade us that there is such a thing as beautiful simplicity.

Gramophone Magazine
Stile Antico's sleek tuning and supple attention to words, and the studio recording, intimate but not claustrophobic, do bring a carefully plotted span (over 120 years) of sacred styles into our listening rooms with rare success.

Irish Times
Another winner from the 12-voice ensemble Stile Antico... The two pieces by Thomas Tomkins, O praise the Lord and When David heard, epitomise the expressive richness of the style. But the simplicity of Campion's Never weather-beaten sail is also gorgeous, and there's an unexpected rocking figure, John Browne's much earlier Jesu, mercy, how may this be?, that becomes a real earworm. The contributions of the viol consort Fretwork are equally fine.

American Record Guide, July / August 2012
Presented here are 15 works, either vocal or instrumental, from 12 different composers. The instrumental works are all renditions of the 'In Nomine', originally coming from the 'In nomine Dominus' section of the Benedictus from a Taverner mass and eventually spawning at least 150 pieces by 58 different composers.

Classical Music, 2nd June 2012
The group's singing is, as ever, breathtakingly beautiful.

Sunday Times, 12th February 2012
Never weather-beaten sail" to the elaborate verse anthem by Orlando Gibbons's "See, see the word is incarnate"...Another triumph emotional content merits. But then every work here fairly burns itself on the heart.

Notes & Reviews:

Recording information: Air Studios, Lyndhurst Hall, London (02/2011).

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Works Details

Tomkins, Thomas : O Praise the Lord All Ye Heathen

Running Time: 3 min. 44 sec.
Period Time: Renaissance
Form: Choral

Amner, John : O Ye Little Flock, verse anthem for 4 & 6 voices

Performer: Emilia Benjamin (Viol)
Ensemble: Fretwork
Running Time: 7 min. 5 sec.
Period Time: Baroque
Form: Choral

Taverner, John : Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas :: In nomine

Ensemble: Fretwork
Running Time: 2 min. 3 sec.
Period Time: Renaissance
Form: Choral

Ramsey, Robert : How Are the Mighty Fallen

Running Time: 6 min. 29 sec.
Period Time: Baroque

Tallis, Thomas : Purge me, O Lord :: "Fond youth is but a bubble"), anthem for 4 voices

Running Time: 1 min. 51 sec.
Period Time: Renaissance

Amner, John : A Stranger Here

Running Time: 5 min. 4 sec.
Period Time: Baroque
Form: Vocal

Parsons, Robert : In nomine a 4 no 1

Ensemble: Fretwork
Running Time: 2 min. 35 sec.
Period Time: Renaissance

Browne, John : Jesu, Mercy, How May This Be?

Running Time: 10 min. 3 sec.
Period Time: Renaissance

Parsons, Robert : In nomine a 4 no 2

Ensemble: Fretwork
Running Time: 2 min. 18 sec.
Period Time: Renaissance

Croce, Giovanni : From profound centre of my heart

Running Time: 4 min. 36 sec.
Period Time: Renaissance

Dowland, John : I shame at mine unworthiness, sacred song for 5 voices

Running Time: 2 min. 20 sec.
Period Time: Renaissance
Form: Vocal
Written: 1614

Campion, Thomas : Never weather-beaten saile more willing bent to shore

Running Time: 2 min. 38 sec.
Period Time: Renaissance
Form: Vocal
Written: 1613

Byrd, William : Why do I use my paper, ink and pen?, consort song for voice & 4 viols

Performer: Benedict Hymas (Tenor)
Ensemble: Fretwork
Running Time: 2 min. 29 sec.
Period Time: Renaissance

Tomkins, Thomas : When David heard

Notes: Composition written: By 1622.
Running Time: 5 min. 2 sec.
Period Time: Renaissance
Form: Choral
Written: by 1622

Gibbons, Orlando : See, see, the word is incarnate

Ensemble: Fretwork
Running Time: 6 min. 18 sec.
Period Time: Renaissance
Written: circa 1610

Tune thy Musicke to thy Hart: Tudor & Jacobean Music / Stile Antico, Fretwork

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