The programme for this concert – entitled “The Day of Thy Power” – comprised Robert Fayrfax’s Missa Tecum principium, and Tallis’ Lamentations I and II. In both Fayrfax’s and Tallis’ time, there was great political, social and religious unrest and change; the arrival of the Tudors and the actions of each successive heir to the throne brought tumult to England and beyond.
Trendy titles and taglines are more or less a given at classical concerts nowadays, but that doesn’t prevent me feeling a twinge of resentment each time pieces are pigeon-holed into a concert ‘narrative’. Thus it was with a certain trepidation that I headed to Southwark Cathedral for ‘The Knight and the Lady’, a concert of sacred vocal music performed by the New Renaissance Voices.
