Dialogues of Sorrow (2010)

performed by Amy Moore (soprano), Christopher Watson (tenor), Clare Wilkinson (soprano), Elizabeth Kenny (lute), Gabriel Crouch (bass), Gallicantus, Mark Chambers (counter tenor), Matthew Long (tenor), Gabriel Crouch (conductor)
composed by Giovanni Coprario, John Ward, Richard Dering, Robert Ramsey, Thomas Ford, Thomas Tomkins, Thomas Vautor, Thomas Weelkes, William Cranford

Here's a superb collection of English madrigals and other pieces from the golden age of English music, all (or almost all) composed on a single occasion, the death of Henry Stuart, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, in 1612. That sad event came about after the prince took a swim in the Thames river, as filthy then as now (or possibly even worse); he contracted what is thought to have been typhoid fever and expired. Henry was a popular monarch-in-waiting, and his death stirred large musical and literary outpourings; the ... Read More

Here's a superb collection of English madrigals and other pieces from the golden age of English music, all (or almost all) composed on a single occasion, the death of Henry Stuart, Prince of Wales and heir to the throne, in 1612. That sad event came about after the prince took a swim in the Thames river, as filthy then as now (or possibly even worse); he contracted what is thought to have been typhoid fever and expired. Henry was a popular monarch-in-waiting, and his death stirred large musical and literary outpourings; the music recorded here does not exhaust the possible selections. Recordings of madrigals and lute songs usually alternate sad and happy music, but here all the pieces are necessarily of a single emotional tenor. This does not mean, however, that the program falls into sameness. Indeed, for lovers of English music of this period part of the appeal is to hear the diverse responses of the composers involved to the same event; stately biblical settings, agonized chromaticism, and simple,... Read Less