1611 was a particularly auspicious year for English culture, with the publication of both the King James Version of the Bible and The Tempest by William Shakespeare. Musically, the year was crowned with the appearance of what was to be the last collection by another William, Byrd’s Psalmes, Songs and Sonnets, in which the composer promised the performer “Musicke to content every humour: either melancholy, merry, or mixt of both”. 

William Byrd The Sixteen

Conceived for three, four, five or six parts, the music does indeed offer enormous variety, not only in mood, but in style, and Harry Christophers and The Sixteen have patently relished the opportunity to give top-notch performances for what is surprisingly the first complete recording of this major milestone in English music.

Journeying from cautionary tales deftly set in three parts, through the famous four-part madrigal This sweet and merry month of May, to the introspective intensity of five-part settings such as Retire my soul, consider thine estate and Come woeful Orpheus,...