Magnificat Regale Benedicite! What dremyd I Alas, for lak of her presens Most clere of colour Missa Sponsus amat sponsum – Credo I love, loved, and loved wolde I be Somewhat musyng Ave lumen gratiae That was my woo Salve Regina To complayne me, alas Maria plena virtute
In that golden age of British choral music half a millennium ago, when polyphonic voices soared in the vaulting of the great late-Gothic churches and chapels that seemed to have been built for them to fill, one composer was in especial favour with the royal family: Robert Fayrfax.
A newly reconstructed movement from a mass for the private wedding of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, later treasured in darker times by the recusant gentry for its Catholic associations, sits here alongside exuberant masterpieces from the Eton Choirbook and, in intimate contrast, Fayrfax’s seven surviving courtly songs, brought together on a single recording for the first time.
An exciting new signing for Delphian, Ensemble Pro Victoria’s young professionals bring both freshness and individuality to Fayrfax’s music in the five hundredth anniversary year of his death. Recorded on 8-10 March 2021 in St Brandon’s Church, Brancepeth, County Durham.
