Reviewed by Steven Whitehead

Truly, the past is a foreign country. To us in the 21st century it is amazing that writing a musical setting of the Old Testament Book of Lamentations could be seen as a revolutionary act but, in Roman Catholic tradition, texts from Jeremiah's heart-broken meditations on the fate of Jerusalem were used in services in the three days leading up to Easter. And in Elizabethan England in the years after the Protestant Reformation composers of the calibre of Tallis and Byrd chose to do the same. Coincidence? Or defiance? On this beautiful CD we have five responses to Jeremiah's Laments over Jerusalem by, in order of appearance: Thomas Tallis (c. 1505-1585), Alfonso Ferrabosco the Younger (c. 1575-1628), William Byrd (c. 1540-1623), Osbert Parsley (c. 1511-1585) and John Mundy (c. 1555-1630). Of particular interest is Mundy's "De Lamentatione Jeremiae" as he was organist at St George's Chapel and this reconstruction is a premiere recording. The fact that the singing is by the Lay Clerks of Mundy's own chapel lends a certain resonance even though the actual recording was made, with the "gracious permission of Her Majesty The Queen", in a building that was not there when Mundy was alive: the Albert Memorial Chapel. The Clerks give a tremendous performance and when we remember that Windsor is under the flight-path for Heathrow we can be astonished at their patience as the recording had to be paused at three-minute intervals to let the planes fly past. Now there is something none of these composers had to contend with.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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