Queen Mary's Big Belly: Hope for an Heir in Catholic England (2017)
performed by
Christopher Watson (tenor), David Allsopp (alto), Elizabeth Kenny (lute), Gabriel Crouch (baritone), Mark Chambers (alto), Nicholas Madden (tenor), Nicholas Todd (tenor), Richard Bannan (baritone), William Gaunt (bass), Zoë Brookshaw (soprano)
composed by
Anonymous, English, Anthony Newman, Christopher Tye, John Sheppard, Orlande de Lassus, Philip van Wilder, Thomas Tallis, William Mundy
The small vocal group Gallicantus has a knack for recordings of very specialized repertory that nevertheless appeal to general audiences with attractive performances and intelligent programming. Queen Mary's Big Belly does not quite deliver on its amusing title referring to the phantom pregnancy suffered by the Catholic queen in 1555, although some of the pieces would have been heard at the time as relevant to the situation. What you get instead is music, mostly sacred, that the queen would have heard or been served with in ...
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The small vocal group Gallicantus has a knack for recordings of very specialized repertory that nevertheless appeal to general audiences with attractive performances and intelligent programming. Queen Mary's Big Belly does not quite deliver on its amusing title referring to the phantom pregnancy suffered by the Catholic queen in 1555, although some of the pieces would have been heard at the time as relevant to the situation. What you get instead is music, mostly sacred, that the queen would have heard or been served with in the course of her daily life. As such, it suffers from the small size of the group (six to nine members, one voice to a part); at Mary's sumptuous court the music would have been performed by many more singers. The singers of Gallicantus have a nice mixture of precision and lyricism, though, and in some of the more intimate pieces -- sample Tallis' gorgeous O sacrum convivium -- they are undeniably effective. They're aided by fine engineering work from Signum, working in St....
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- Pater noster, for chorus
- Exurge Christe, motet for 4 voices
- Peccavimus cum patribus nostris, motet for 7 voices
- Te spectant Reginalde Poli, motet for 5 voices, M. i (S. iii/127)
- Like as the doleful dove, partsong for 4 voices
- New Ballad of the Marigold, song
- A Fansye
- Litany (O God, the Father of Heaven), for 5 voices
- O sacrum convivium (also set as "I call and cry to thee" and "O sacred and holy banquet"), motet for 5 voices, P. 210
- Quod chorus vatum (Haec Deum coeli), motet for 5 voices, P. 261
- Christe Virgo Dilectissima for 6 voices
- Deus misereatur, motet for 5 voices
- When shall my sorrowful sighing slake, partsong for 4 voices
- Vain, all our life (I), for 4 voices
- Martyr Dei qui unicum, motet for 6 voices (incomplete)
- Loquebantur variis linguis, motet for 7 voices, P. 272
- Libera nos, 2 antiphons for chorus
- Vain, all our life (II), for 4 voices
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