Robert Quinney, the director, is the Organist of New College, Oxford, an Associate Professor at the University of Oxford, and maintains a parallel career as a solo organist and prolific recording artist.
Composition History
Sheppard claimed to have been composing continuously for twenty years by 1554, when he supplicated for an Oxford Doctorate in Music that was never awarded.
Interpretation
The Choir of New College Oxford, which predated and survived the Reformation, is considered an appropriate medium for Sheppard's music, representing a continuous tradition of performance.
Composer Biography
John Sheppard's lifetime coincided with turbulent decades of English history, including Henry VIII's appeal for annulment, the Act of Supremacy, and the reigns of Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I.
Compositional Technique
The works on this album divide into two groups: cantus firmus pieces, where a plainchant melody moves through a polyphonic texture, and more 'modern' motets constructed as a series of closely-worked fugae.
Performer Biography
Robert Quinney previously served as Assistant Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral and Sub-Organist of Westminster Abbey, where he performed at the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Interpretation
For this recording, the performers adopted a standard pitch of A=466, which is a semitone above modern 'concert pitch,' after experimenting with various pitch standards.
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