Catalogue

Summary:

BBC Radio 3 “Record Review” (8th July, 2023)
BBC Radio 3 “The Early Music Show” (3rd July, 2023)
BBC Music Magazine feature “50 Years of the Taverner Consort with Andrew Parrott” (August issue)

Andrew Parrott celebrates the 50th anniversary of his Taverner Consort with two premiere recordings involving three major composers spanning the Renaissance and Baroque eras, backed by his inimitable and extensive research. J. S. Bach’s magisterial single-movement motet O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht (‘O Jesus Christ, light of my life’) is transformed with Andrew’s proposed identification of Bach’s ‘litui’ as early clarinets. Franco-Flemish composer Giaches de Wert’s Egressus Jesus (‘Then Jesus went thence’) for seven voices receives sumptuous treatment in Michael Praetorius’ scoring with multiple added stringed instruments – plucked, bowed and keyed. Andrew and the Taverner’s collaborators comprise a roll call of early music luminaries, including the fêted viol consort, Fretwork.

Tracklist:

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750)

1. O Jesu Christ, meins Lebens Licht BWV 118.1 (first version, c.1736/37) 4.54

Choristers of New College, Oxford (dir. Robert Quinney, organist)
Thomas Howarth, Peter Kendall, Alexander Remoundos, Didrik Tarras-Wahlberg
Martha McLorinan, alto | Jeremy Budd, tenor | Simon Grant, bass
Fiona Mitchell, clarinet | Eric Hoeprich, clarinet | Russell Gilmour (/Nick Wright), cornett
Emily White, alto trombone | Miguel Tantos Sevillano, tenor trombone
Adrian France (/Adam Crighton), bass trombone
Steven Devine, organ

GIACHES DE WERT (1535–1596); arr. Michael Praetorius

2. Egressus Jesus a7 (No.29 in Novi thesauri musici, Liber 5, 1568, Venice) 6.19
Instrumentation after Michael PRAETORIUS (1571–1621), in Syntagma musicum III: Termini musicali (1619)

Thomas Howarth, Didrik Tarras-Wahlberg, Choristers of New College, Oxford (dir. Robert Quinney, organist)
Jeremy Budd, tenor
Robin Bigwood, Steven Devine, virginals
Satoko Doi-Luck, Martin Perkins, harpsichords
William Lyons, Beth Stone, flutes
Jacob Heringman, Arngeir Hauksson, citterns
Jakob Lindberg, Sam Brown, Augustin Irwing, lutes
Jonatan Bougt, Lynda Sayce, theorbos

Fretwork
Emilia Benjamin, Emily Ashton, tenor viols
Sam Stadlen, Jonathan Rees, Richard Boothby: bass viols
Joanna Levine, William Hunt: great bass viols
Timothy Amherst, violone

Pronunciation advisor: Henrike Lähnemann
Taverner administration: Julia Stutfield, Rachel Wheatley
Engineer: Ben Connellan | Producer:  Annabel Connellan
Recorded at SJE Arts, St John the Evangelist church, Oxford (9–10 May 2023)