Peterhouse Partbooks from The Byrd Ensemble

Not long ago, I highlighted the work of the Blue Heron ensemble to reconstruct and record music from the Peterhouse Partbooks. Here is another group working on the same project: The Byrd Ensemble on Scribe Records. They released a disc last year of music dedicated to Our Lady from the Peterhouse Partbooks.

The Peterhouse Partbooks, a set of partbooks copied around 1540 belonging to Peterhouse, Cambridge, is one of the most important sources of English Latin church music leading up to the Reformation.

Dr. Nick Sandon [the same source of the Blue Heron edition] has spent a large part of his life reconstructing music from the Peterhouse Partbooks. This album contains music from this beloved collection. Dr. Sandon has meticulously reconstructed the tenor parts in tracks 1-3 and has supplied some of the soprano part in track 4 with precision and artistry in order to provide us a sense of the sound world and the expressive writing of Pasche, Merbecke, Ludford and Tallis in the early 16th century.

DR. NICK SANDON studied music at Birmingham University, England and then lectured in music at Exeter University, where he took his doctorate. After several years as Professor of Music at University College, Cork, Ireland, he returned to Exeter as Professor of Music and remained there until his retirement. He now lives in France, where he restores incomplete Tudor compositions, studies medieval liturgy and chant, runs the early music publisher Antico Edition, listens to cricket on the Light Programme, and cultivates his garden.

On the disc:

William Pasche (fl. early 16th c.) – MAGNIFICAT (15:27) world-premiere recording

John Merbecke (c.1510-1585) – AVE DEI PATRIS FILIA (13:58) world-premiere recording (although there exists another recording of this piece reconstructed by David Skinner)

Nicholas Ludford (c.1485-1557) – SALVE REGINA (16:11) world-premiere recording

Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585) – AVE ROSA SINE SPINIS (10:49)

Here is a link to the CD booklet for this disc. Unfortunately, the two groups are not recording the same music, so it will be hard to compare their efforts.

Kindling the Fire

My husband bought me a Kindle Fire and I've been loading it with books to read and reading books on it for the past few months. We've set the dates for a European vacation this fall and it will be nice to have books to read without having "books" in the carry on--I even ordered a couple of guidebooks.

I've also read two scholarly books on the Kindle, wanting to get a head start on them before the printed book came out: Eamon Duffy's Saints, Sacrilege and Sedition and G.W. Bernard's The Late Medieval English Church. I don't think I'll do that again--try to read something scholarly in this virtual format. How do I cite the text? It's hard to move around in the text and it even irritates me that I can reach the end of the book and the Kindle still tells me I've only read 99%--I can't find the last 1%--I'm at the end of the text! Then when I go back to the text, the Kindle tells me I've only read 35%--I've finished the book! It hurts my sense of accomplishment. Perhaps these are my failings in using technology (and otherwise), but I find that reading these books in this format limited my use of the text.

The Wall Street Journal published this story from very tech-savvy reader, disenchanted by his e-reader:

I BROKE UP WITH E-BOOKS last year after a flight from Los Angeles to New York. My first-generation Kindle and I had been together for five years, but I knew we'd have to go our separate ways when, an hour into the journey, it completely shut me out. Or rather, it shut down. I'd forgotten to charge the device before I left.

Upon arrival in New York, I coolly walked into a bookstore and bought a paperback version of the book my Kindle wouldn't let me read in the air. It felt good to be back on paper, turning real pages. I realized then: E-readers are needy, but a paperback will always be there for you.

I used to swear by my Kindle. I bought the original model the day it came out. But over the years, we grew apart. Ultimately, our needs were different. It's difficult to think back, but I see now how a match seemingly made in heaven turned sour.

Joshua Fruhlinger doesn't have the same complaint I do about the e-reading experience, but he points out several limits with the technology and the experience of reading books on his Kindle. I'm sure I'll continue to read books and use my Kindle, but not this type of scholarly book in my field of interest.

What has been your experience with e-readers, readers? Do you find them effective for any and all reading material? Or are you selective in your use? Thanks for your input.