James O'Donnell: Westminster Abbey Choir - Byrd: The Great Service & other works

It is not known when or for whom William Byrd wrote his monumental �Great Service�, but we can be sure that he would approve of this new recording from Westminster Abbey.The second half of the sixteenth century was a heady time for the post-Reformation Church of England. Out of the ashes of the Catholic tradition a new�and decidedly Anglican�musical enthusiasm arose, and with it three distinct styles for settings of the Canticles, so central to Cranmer�s vision for the liturgy: �short� services presented their texts efficiently and simply, while �verse� services complicated proceedings with the addition of soloists and more intricate textures; �great�, or �full�, services extended this development to create musical structures of astonishing diversity, and at the very peak of the genre comes William Byrd�s masterpiece, widely regarded as the finest unaccompanied setting of the service ever made.The �Great� Service is here presented in its correct liturgical order (with the inclusion of the frequently omitted Kyrie) and is complemented by six of Byrd�s finest anthems and two organ voluntaries from My Lady Nevells Booke, a collection of Byrd�s keyboard music put together in 1591.