Various Artists - A Tudor Christmas (2019)

This recording presents music for Advent and Christmas from the Tudor and early Stuart periods but does not attempt to be a historical recreation, more an invitation to imagine the sound world of a period rich in musical expression. Pragmatism governed many musical practices of the time, either by the frequent re-working of musical scores or through the flexible use of voices and instruments, and this programme wholly embraces this virtue by employing varied accompaniments and by freely changing between instrumental and choral renditions. In 2018 the eight young voices of Trinity Boys Choir EIGHT and the viol consort L'Armonia Sonora performed much of this music in a Christmas concert in the Tudor Chapel at Ightham Mote in Kent and this environment seemed entirely fitting. The musicians and chamber organ were arranged comfortably on the altar side of the rood screen while the audience sat snugly in the small pews. The resulting intimacy allowed the voices and instruments to speak naturally, sensitively and directly.