Product Review

The final volume of The Cardinall's Musick's award-winning Byrd series includes some of the composer's most sublime and adventurous music, drawn in main from the 1591 Cantiones Sacrae collection. Throughout this series it has become evident that a comprehensive survey such as this shows the genius of the composer in a uniquely effective way. Andrew Carwood describes Byrd as the greatest composer of the age as he writes, ' If there is an English musician who comes close to Shakespeare in his consummate artistry, his control over so many genres and his ability to speak with emotional directness it must be William Byrd.' The title track of this volume, Infelix ego, is the crowning glory of Byrd's achievement and one of the greatest artistic statements of the sixteenth century. This remarkable text, taking the form of a number of rhetorical statements and questions, shows the gamut of emotion from a soul in torment to the joy of release when Christ's mercy is accepted. It can be seen as a microcosm of Byrd's sacred music and a fitting crown to this series.