Stile Antico and Fretwork celebrate a Shakespearean anniversary

Morley

It was a lover and his lass

Byrd

O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth

Byrd

Why do I use my paper, ink and pen?

Huw Watkins

The Phoenix and the Turtle

Byrd

Fantasia a 5, ‘Two parts in one in the fourth above’

Tomkins

Be strong and of a good courage

Ramsey

Sleep, fleshly birth

Byrd

Browning a 5, ‘The leaves be green’

Johnson

Full fathom five

Nico Muhly

Gentle sleep

Gibbons

In nomine No 1

Wilbye

Draw on, sweet night

Fretwork
Stile Antico


Reviewed by:

Reviewed: 16 August, 2020
Venue:

Today’s concert comes from 2016, when vocal ensemble Stile Antico and viol consort Fretwork combined to celebrate the 400th anniversary year of the death of England’s great bard, William Shakespeare. Their programme contrasts music by Shakespeare’s contemporaries with new settings from Nico Muhly and Composer in Association with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Huw Watkins. In the words of Shakespeare himself, ‘How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music creep in our ears …’

Read Past Reviews on the Classical Source

(From the BBC Proms, 15 August 2016)

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