Parsons on Naxos

VC's Parsons Project disc will be released on the Naxos label at the end of 2007. From the Naxos website: "The two day recording of Robert Parsons choral music took place on the 9th and 10th of February, 2007. Parsons preceded William Byrd and Henry Purcell at the Chapel Royal, his life spanning the period of musical upheaval during the Reformation. Consequently, and in the same vein as his successors, his works include both Latin and English text settings. Opening with his longest work, the Magnificat set to Latin text, and closing with arguably his most beautiful setting, Ave Maria, the main body of the recording is held together by the First Great Service, based on the 1549 Prayer Book text. This is interspersed with three anthems set to texts from the funeral service. Parsons, who drowned at Newark upon Trent aged 42, is a subject of contention as his compositional style bears an uncanny resemblance to that of Byrd, whose works thrived whilst Parsons were buried." To see the full article, click

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