The Flower of All Virginity - Music from the Eton Choirbook Vol.4

The Flower of All Virginity

The Eton Choirbook Volume IV

The Sixteen

Harry Christophers

1. Gaude flore virginali - Hugh Kellyk

2. Ah, My Dear, Ah My Dear Son - Anonymous

3. Magnificat - John Nesbett

4. Most Clear Of Colour - Robert Fayrfax

5. Salve Regina - John Browne

6. Afraid, Alas, And Why So Suddenly - Anonymous

7. O Maria salvatoris mater a 8 - John Browne

The beautiful architectureal structures of choral works of the early English Tudor composers has never been matched ,in my opinion.The beauty and grace produced by the mediaeval Marian cult ,was about to die in both music and the pastic arts ,as reformation zealots,violent in their irrational hatreds,,and greedy for plunder,were about to ravage and desecrate everything that was beautiful in our culture.What we have left in the Eton choirbook,is the tip of an iceberg that is lost to vandalism for ever.'The Flower of All Virginity',sung with heartfelt beauty by The Sixteen offers us a taste of a great musical age.It breaks my heart that pages were torn out of the Eton choirbook and used as scrap by the philistines of the English Reformation.