Weelkes: What Joy so True
Anthems, Canticles and Consort music by Thomas Weelkes
The Choir of Chichester Cathedral, The Rose Consort of Viols, John Bryan, Charles Harrison
Regent Records. REGCD571. 77’12

The 400th anniversaries in 2023 of the death of Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623) and William Byrd (c1540-1623) threw into sharp focus the contrast between the fates and subsequent reputations of these two English composers. Not surprisingly, Byrd had the well-deserved lion’s share of the attention during their 2023 anniversary year. This enterprising recording gave a chance for Weelkes to have his say. It comes from Chichester Cathedral, where he was Organist and Master of the Choristers (informator choristarum) from his mid-20s, following four years as organist of Winchester College, where most of his madrigals seem to have been composed. He just about managed to retain the Chichester post until his death, despite frequent accusations of drunkenness and for being a “notorious swearer & blasphemer” which led to occasional periods of expulsion.

The music on this recording belies the description of Weelkes’ behaviour and that of the Chichester Cathedral choir during his time there. The overall mood of the music, and the interpretations, are beautifully intimate and delicate, helped by the relatively modest size of the impressive Chichester choir (14 boy trebles and six Lay vicars), the well-judged accompaniments from the Rose Consort of Viols, assistant organist Timothy Ravalde and Charles Harrison’s sensitive direction.

The recording includes morning (Short Service) and evening canticles (Sixth Service) and verse anthems, several reconstructed by John Bryan from incomplete partbooks or from organ parts. There are no surviving Weelkes pieces for choir and viol consort, but the versions performed here are compelling. Also included are four pieces for viol consort (pairs of In nomines and Pavanes) and Weelkes’s only two surviving works for solo organ, here played, with exquisite articulation, by organ scholar Thomas Howell on the Cathedral’s main organ using the oldest stops from the 1725 John Byfield organ.

Apart from shedding a well-deserved light on the music of Weelkes, this recording also highlights the extraordinary standard of music that can be heard regularly in the less well-known cathedrals of England.