Byrd: Pavans and Galliards
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: William Byrd
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Magazine Review Date: 12/1986
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: HMC1241/2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Pavan and Galliard, C minor No. 1 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, G No. 2 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, A minor No. 1 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, C minor No. 2 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, C No. 1 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, C No. 2, 'Kinborough Good' |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, G minor No. 1, 'on the passame |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, G minor No. 2, 'Sir William Pe |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| (Echo) Pavan and Galliard, G No. 5 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, F No. 2, 'Ph. Tregian' |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| (Quadran) Pavan and Galliard, G No. 1, 'on the pas |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan, G No. 6, 'Canon 2 in 1' |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan, A minor No. 4 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Galliard |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Galliard, C No. 4, 'Mistress Mary Brownlow' |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Galliard, D minor No. 2 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Prelude |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
Composer or Director: William Byrd
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Magazine Review Date: 12/1986
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: HMC40 1241/2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Pavan and Galliard, C minor No. 1 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, G No. 2 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, A minor No. 1 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, C minor No. 2 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, C No. 1 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, C No. 2, 'Kinborough Good' |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, G minor No. 1, 'on the passame |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, G minor No. 2, 'Sir William Pe |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| (Echo) Pavan and Galliard, G No. 5 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, F No. 2, 'Ph. Tregian' |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| (Quadran) Pavan and Galliard, G No. 1, 'on the pas |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan, G No. 6, 'Canon 2 in 1' |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan, A minor No. 4 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Galliard |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Galliard, C No. 4, 'Mistress Mary Brownlow' |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Galliard, D minor No. 2 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Prelude |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
Composer or Director: William Byrd
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Magazine Review Date: 12/1986
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: HMC90 1241/2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Pavan and Galliard, C minor No. 1 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, G No. 2 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, A minor No. 1 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, C minor No. 2 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, C No. 1 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, C No. 2, 'Kinborough Good' |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, G minor No. 1, 'on the passame |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, G minor No. 2, 'Sir William Pe |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| (Echo) Pavan and Galliard, G No. 5 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan and Galliard, F No. 2, 'Ph. Tregian' |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| (Quadran) Pavan and Galliard, G No. 1, 'on the pas |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan, G No. 6, 'Canon 2 in 1' |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan, A minor No. 4 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Pavan |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Galliard |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Galliard, C No. 4, 'Mistress Mary Brownlow' |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Galliard, D minor No. 2 |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
| Prelude |
William Byrd, Composer
Davitt Moroney, Harpsichord William Byrd, Composer |
Author: David Fallows
Always one for a challenging sleeve-note, Davitt Moroney opens his comments here by stating that Byrd ''was the most universal and versatile composer of the 16th century, surpassing in a quite self-evident way his most eminent continental colleagues''. And he goes on to aver that Byrd's pavans and galliards are ''worthy to stand beside'' Bach's 48 and Beethoven's piano sonatas. That I happen to agree with the first assertion doesn't make it any the less unnerving—which is to say that I would regard it less as an inviolable truth than as a personal view even though many fine people feel likewise. As concerns the second (which raises complex issues: Comment in not fewer than 30,000 words), it seems in some ways to dominate his playing.
For although Moroney is a wonderful musician, his performances here have a certain solemnity that seems just slightly too determined to catapult Byrd's keyboard dances into the first league. One can see his point. It is much too easy to think of the works as simple dance music when virtually every detail of them shows the most sovereign mastery of design and there is so much in his range of moods, his widely-spread humanity, to make his a worthy contemporary of Shakespeare.
But what worries me here is that Moroney's very determination tends to hide what to my ear are the most beguiling features of Byrd's creativity. If we take the very first piece—the glorious G minor Pavan described in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book as ''the first that ever hee made''—and compare it with Ton Koopman's performance (Philips 9502 121, 5/84) it is striking to hear the way Koopman, playing rather more freely, repeatedly brings out Byrd's delight in making each turn of phrase a surprise. Koopman consistently shows Byrd as a composer whose absolute mastery of his materials and whose inexhaustible inventiveness create a joyfulness and a sheer musicality that are on top of his structural mastery. With Moroney this pavan almost sounds like an immature piece that doesn't quite work; and his playing seems truly free and inventive only in his own divisions for the set in which no embellished repeats by Byrd survive—the Earl of Salisbury pavan and galliards.
But Moroney's seriousness of purpose is by no means self-defeating. If it leaves certain pieces under-characterized, it nevertheless gives a wonderful conspectus of Byrd's structural designs and how they evolved. Again and again there are details that show Moroney's deep understanding not only by Byrd's keyboard music but of his other music and that of his contemporaries. And it is refreshing to hear such obviously well-informed performances. His juxtaposition of the pieces—taking its lead from Byrd himself and from recent research on the subject—is astonishingly eloquent; and in particular it emphasises the true grandeur of the two longest works, the Passamezzo and Quadran pairs.
The recording picks up several mechanical details of the harpsichord, details of the kind that would be inaudible in a concert hall or even a medium-sized room; but the sound is otherwise well caught. And, despite his opening effort to bludgeon us about the head with the music's importance, Moroney's sleeve-note is characteristically informative and imaginative.'
For although Moroney is a wonderful musician, his performances here have a certain solemnity that seems just slightly too determined to catapult Byrd's keyboard dances into the first league. One can see his point. It is much too easy to think of the works as simple dance music when virtually every detail of them shows the most sovereign mastery of design and there is so much in his range of moods, his widely-spread humanity, to make his a worthy contemporary of Shakespeare.
But what worries me here is that Moroney's very determination tends to hide what to my ear are the most beguiling features of Byrd's creativity. If we take the very first piece—the glorious G minor Pavan described in the
But Moroney's seriousness of purpose is by no means self-defeating. If it leaves certain pieces under-characterized, it nevertheless gives a wonderful conspectus of Byrd's structural designs and how they evolved. Again and again there are details that show Moroney's deep understanding not only by Byrd's keyboard music but of his other music and that of his contemporaries. And it is refreshing to hear such obviously well-informed performances. His juxtaposition of the pieces—taking its lead from Byrd himself and from recent research on the subject—is astonishingly eloquent; and in particular it emphasises the true grandeur of the two longest works, the Passamezzo and Quadran pairs.
The recording picks up several mechanical details of the harpsichord, details of the kind that would be inaudible in a concert hall or even a medium-sized room; but the sound is otherwise well caught. And, despite his opening effort to bludgeon us about the head with the music's importance, Moroney's sleeve-note is characteristically informative and imaginative.'
Byrd: Pavans and Galliards
Byrd: Pavans and Galliards
Byrd: Pavans and Galliards
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