More Splendid Than the Sun

Join the Bruegel Consort for an evening of Tudor sacred music by Taverner and Ludford for five and six voices.

More Splendid Than the Sun highlights the joys and miracles of the Virgin Mary’s life as expressed in sacred polyphony from early 16th century England. The luminous six-voice Mass Videte miraculum by Westminster-based Nicholas Ludford (c.1485-1557) provides the centrepiece of the programme, and its movements are interspersed with several plainsong melodies for the Mass’s feast day, Candlemas. The two soprano parts of Ludford’s Mass create a shimmering quality in many passages with their athletic, interweaving lines. Alongside this, John Taverner’s (c.1490-1545) magnificent five-voice antiphon Gaude plurimum encourages Mary to rejoice on account of the grace her son will bring to humanity.