For their first recording for harmonia mundi UK new signing ORA have chosen to focus on that towering figure of the English music scene, William Byrd.As Suzi Digby says in her introduction: “Starting the recording with an original Renaissance reflection, Byrd’s pairing of his own music to Da Monte’s setting of verses from Psalm 137 – one of the most remarkable exchanges in musical history – we centre on his peerless Mass for Five Voices. We then asked Roxanna Panufnik, Francis Pott, Alexander L’Estrange, Owain Park and Charlotte Bray to set their own reactions to the individual movements and we are delighted with the varied responses we got – showing the universality of Byrd’s sacred music and its relevance to today’s musicians. We imposed no restrictions, other than length, on our chosen composers in order to gain their truest reactions. The recording closes with possibly Byrd’s most famous work, his setting of the text of Ave Verum Corpus, and we asked the multi-talented musician Roderick Williams to write a setting on the same text. I am so grateful to him, and to all the composers of these wonderful new works, and hope you will be equally entertained and enlightened.”