Focusing on the life and works of William Byrd, this DVD has a playing time of over 3 hours and includes filmed performances by The Tallis Scholars, a documentary on the composer and over 50 minutes of bonus audio tracks. The filmed performances feature over 70 minutes of sacred music by Elizabeth I's favourite composer including the Mass for 4 Voices and Ave verum corpus. It is performed by candlelight in the beautiful surrounds of Tewkesbury Abbey and recorded in genuine surround sound. In a seventy-minute documentary produced for the BBC, Charles Hazlewood further explores the life and music of William Byrd and the troubled times that produced some of the most intimate and passionate sacred music ever written. Bonus audio tracks including Byrd's Mass for 5 voices and Mass for 3 voices result in the complete audio recordings of Byrd's Masses being available on this one DVD. |
