In Celebration of the Human Voice - The Essential Musical Instrument

Cardinall's Musick

Director: Andrew Carwood

Cardinall's Musick

Mixed Choral Ensemble from London, England.

Founded in 1989, The Cardinall's Musick is a highly successful and innovative ensemble. Taking its name from the 16th-century cardinal, Thomas Wolsey, the group is known for its extensive study of English Renaissance music. Although primarily a vocal group, The Cardinall's Musick also has its own period instrumental ensemble, and now embraces a wide range of styles and periods: from complete reconstructions of historical events (the Field of the Cloth of Gold) to world premieres of commissioned music from composers such as Michael Finnissy, Simon Whalley, Matthew Martin and Judith Weir.

One of the group's main strengths lies in the combination of solid academic research and the singers' ability to perform as soloists within a team, 'preserving their vocal personalities rather than striving for a mellifluous blend ... resulting in a vibrant texture of timbres' (The Daily Telegraph). Add a sincere love of the music and a deep personal commitment in performance, and 'the voices of Andrew Carwood and his eight cohorts could probably start a blaze in the Antarctic!' (The Times). Their thoughtful, themed programmes are designed to stimulate and enlighten, to broaden horizons and bring a fresh approach to standard repertoire.

The Cardinall's Musick has performed at the most prestigious UK festivals, including Spitalfields, Bath, Chester, Aldeburgh, the Three Choirs and the BBC Proms, as well as throughout Europe. Its prize-winning discography includes music by Nicholas Ludford, William Cornysh, Robert Fayrfax, Lassus, Palestrina and Victoria. They have won the Gramophone Award for Early Music no fewer than four times: in 1995, 2006, 2007 and 2010 for recordings of Fayrfax, Tallis and (twice) Byrd. The final volume of the group's complete Latin works of William Byrd, Infelix ego, was named Recording of the Year at the 2010 Gramophone awards, only the second time an early music recording has won this prestigious prize. The Cardinall's Musick has also received a French Diapason d'Or, a German Schallplatten Kritik Preis and a Schallplatten Echo Award.

Discography

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CardinallÕs Musick : Allegri: Miserere & the Music of Rome

Review: The Cardinall's Musick finished 2010 in a blaze of glory with their Gramophone Recording of the Year award for the last volume of their Byrd Edition. Only the second time in thirty years that an Early Music recording has received this prestigious accolade, it is a fitting tribute to the soaring artistry of the group and their director, Andrew Carwood. Their eagerly-awaited next disc features music from late sixteenth-century Rome and ranges from Allegri's Miserere, surely the best-known and best-loved work of this period, to a rarely-performed or recorded oddity. Seven Roman musicians came together (or were brought together) to write a Mass-setting where they each contributed different sections. The resulting work, the twelve-voice Missa Cantantibus organis, is a tribute both to Cecilia (the patron saint of music) and to Palestrina. The seven composers each take themes found in Palestrina's motet of the same name and use them as the starting point for their new compositions. Palestrina himself is among the seven, with Giovanni Andrea Dragoni, Ruggiero Giovannelli, Curzio Mancini, Prospero Santini, Francesco Soriano and Annibale Stabile being the other six. All seven composers were prominent maestri in Rome and most appear to have had contact with Palestrina either as choristers or pupils.

Songlist: Salve regina, Kyrie eleison (Missa Cantatibus organis), Christie eleison, Kyrie eleison, Gloria, Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Qui tollis peccata mundi, Credo, Crucifixus, Et ascendit in caelum, Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, De lamentatione Jeremiae prophetae, Miserere mei, Deus, Incipit lamentatio Jeremiae prophetae, Cantantibus organis, Gustate et videte