Robin Blaze; Concordia - Byrd: Consort Songs

Here is a fine recording to draw the listener into the richly layered world of Queen Elizabeth I. William Byrd�s �consort songs� tell of courtly love; Sir Philip Sidney�s demise in battle becomes an eloquent lament; an old woman tumbling down amid a flurry of human skulls represents contemporary desires for freedom of speech; moral temptations are likened to a storm-tossed ship; and a hymn to the Muses is inspired by the death of Thomas Tallis.The longest single piece here is Byrd�s famous Lullaby, �My sweet little baby�, one of the most popular of his works during the composer�s lifetime, and one which has been a deserving favourite ever since.Despite Byrd�s domestic-musician-flattering preface in which he claimed these works were designed to persuade �everyone to learn how to sing�, this music makes the highest vocal demands: demands far exceeded in the glorious singing of Robin Blaze.