Home listening - a feast of English Tudor and Jacobean music

The Guardian 0

The choir of Westminster Abbey sings Nicholas Ludford, Fretwork soar with John Jenkins. Plus music surrounding a strange royal non-event

• Pleasure might be a first priority when listening to music, but it’s also a direct route into history. This is especially true of English Tudor and Jacobean music, which gives a sharp parallel insight into religion and politics of the time through vocal polyphony. The little-known Catholic composer Nicholas Ludford (c1485-c1557) – associated with Westminster Abbey and nearby churches, as singer, organist, worshipper – wrote only Latin works, many devoted to the growing cult in England of the Virgin Mary. Conductor/organist James O’Donnell and the Choir of Westminster Abbey, all male voices, show the contrapuntal richness of this music in their new album, Missa Videte miraculum and Ave Maria, ancilla Trinitatis (Hyperion), especially in the ecstatic salutations of the Ave Maria. Here the choir, at times a little uneven, is at its glorious best.