Thursday 21 October, 8pm at St Martin's Church

Josquin & Fayrfax 500

EVENT OVER. An expanded version of our summer concert celebrating two renaissance 'legends', one English and one pan European, who both died in 1521; this time performed in a resonant church acoustic. Richly scored uplifting polyphony, worth a re-visit or to enjoy for the first time.

Date & Time: Thursday 21 October, 8pm

Venue: St Martin's Church

BREMF Consort of Voices

Deborah Roberts director

Two great legends of the Renaissance are commemorated this year, 500 years after their deaths in 1521: Josquin des Prez, the Franco-Flemish pan-European who lived and worked in several countries and whose reputation even then spanned the Continent, and Robert Fayrfax, who lived and worked his entire life in England, with only one reported visit to France when he accompanied Henry VIII’s court to the Anglo-French ‘summit’ at the Field of the Cloth of Gold.

In many ways their music could not be more different, with Josquin generally favouring an austere style with four vocal parts, clear word setting, and an uncluttered texture. Fayrfax, on the other hand, was writing for the very different tradition of the English pre-Reformation, with five voice parts and a denser ‘web’ of sound’. What they have in common, however, is a profound sensitivity to text and brilliant use of varying textures to enhance meaning.