William Byrd: Complete Consort Music cover

William Byrd: Complete Consort Music

Composer
Released

William Byrd, a serious candidate for the title of Greatest English Composer Ever, is known primarily for his religious music. But he was also an important composer of secular songs, keyboard works, and consort music. This disc brings together everything he wrote for a consort of viols, all of it performed magnificently by the Phantasm ensemble. The vinegary tone of the viola da gamba gives these works a lovely and somewhat ghostly flavor.

Rick Anderson

Recommended by

Suggestions
Dufay: Music for St. James the Greater cover

Dufay: Music for St. James the Greater

Binchois Consort, Andrew Kirkman
Johannes De Lymburgia: Gaude Felix Padua cover

Johannes De Lymburgia: Gaude Felix Padua

Le Miroir De Musique, Baptiste Romain
Rarefactions cover

Rarefactions

Satoshi Takeishi, Janet Feder, Shoko Nagai
Anájikon cover

Anájikon

William Youn, Minguet Quartett, Nils Mönkemeyer, Lucerne Academy Orchestra
Corelli: 12 Violin Sonatas, Op. 5 cover

Corelli: 12 Violin Sonatas, Op. 5

Brandon Acker, David Schrader, John Mark Rozendaal, Rachel Barton Pine
Cowie: Where Song Was Born cover

Cowie: Where Song Was Born

Roderick Chadwick, Sara Minelli
14 Tales of Mystery cover

14 Tales of Mystery

Quadriga Consort
Komitas cover

Komitas

The Gurdjieff Folk Instruments Ensemble, Levon Eskenian
La Mascarade cover

La Mascarade

Rolf Lislevand