Reformation: Keyboard works by William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, John Bull & Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

Featuring

Mishka Rushdie Momen
William Byrd
Orlando Gibbons
John Bull
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck

Did you know?

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Performer Biography

Pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen has commissioned new works from composers Nico Muhly and Vijay Iyer, and premiered Héloïse Werner's An inviting object.

Performer Biography

Mishka Rushdie Momen, the pianist on this album, has been hailed as 'one of the most thoughtful and sensitive of British pianists' by The Times.

Composer Biography

William Byrd, a Catholic composer, maintained a close association with the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I, who was herself a musician.

Historical Context

The English Reformation led to widespread cultural destruction, including the demolition of Thomas Becket's shrine in Canterbury in 1538 and the destruction of over 700 Catholic religious institutions.

Interpretation

Pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen believes that playing Renaissance keyboard music on a modern piano is not anachronistic, as the intimate experience of a single player at a keyboard is similar across instruments like virginals, organ, and grand piano.

Cultural Impact

During Elizabeth I's reign, composers William Byrd and John Bull, and playwright William Shakespeare, all lived in the same parish of St Helen's, Bishopsgate.

Composer Biography

John Bull, a contemporary of Byrd, was dismissed from his position at Gresham College for fathering a child out of wedlock and later fled to Flanders after being charged with adultery and assaulting a priest.