Weelkes: Four anthems

Day 209

Thomas Weelkes: Four anthems

When David Heard

How Amiable Are Thy Dwellings

Gloria in excelsis Deo

O Jonathan

Winchester Cathedral Choir

David Hill

In many ways this was saving the best till last! This is the final posting in this series on Tudor church music. Weelkes was a composer whose name I knew well but as far as I know I had never heard any of his music. If these four pieces are anything like typical then the loss is mine because they were all superb. They unfold beautifully at a very controlled pace and explore a great variety of textures with some really impressive high notes. There are some very interesting moments of harmonic invention, especially the cadence to the last of these anthems, which really took me by surprise.

So a good end to this week of Tudor music. The next few days will be looking at something quite different - music by the fathers and sons (and sometimes grandfathers and grandsons) of major composers.  I've already covered the Bach family in this project but they are in a category all of their own, with several of them being major figures in their own right. I'll explore this week if any of the relatives whose music I listened to are substantial figures themselves or are only known because of the family ties with a great composer.