Taverner composed three Magnificats, one each for four, five and six voices, of which only the four-voice setting survives complete. It's a little unusual for English polyphony of the time because Taverner used the plainsong without embellishment rather than using the 'faburden'. It's an alternatim setting in which plainsong and polyphony alternate. Its long textual melismas are brilliantly decorated throughout for example at 'dispersit superbos mente cordis sui' when Taverner musically scatters the proud. Given its scale it was plainly intended for a special occasion but what that occasion was is now unknown. It has another unusual feature which is that it's scored for men only – no trebles, so perhaps it was intended for performance by the members of a sodality. It's sung below by The Sixteen conducted by Harry Christophers who sing it with its antiphon Nesciens mater which is how it would have been sung for Vespers under the usage of the Sarum rite which prevailed in England at that time. The normal practice under Sarum usage was that only the antiphon's beginning preceded the canticle with the the soloist continuing with the Magnificat and the sings the antiphon in its entirety at the end. Enjoy :-).
markfromireland
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Purcell's verse anthem In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust (Z16) dates from around 1682 – the middle of the period during which Purcell composed most of his anthems with string accompaniment. Its source is the British Museum's 'Royal' manuscript but it's probably based on an earlier and rougher autograph now held in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. It's an unusual anthem in that it's opening symphony is set on a ground bass, and that ground bass is in itself unusual in that Purcell recycled it for use in the song O solitude, my sweetest choice something he almost never did.
Granville Bantock's output was vast he composed numerous operas and incidental music, huge choral works, to say nothing of his prodigious output of orchestral music, chamber music, and songs. And yet his name is well-nigh unknown today. This is a great pity as much of his music is very fine. It may also be about to change as no less than five pieces of his music are to be performed during this year's Proms (the Guardian's Tom Service has a very good article on Bantock here: 
When Byrd took his family away from London with it's surveillance and denunciations to live in the comparative safety of Stondon Massey in Essex he did so in large part so that he could be nearer to his patron Sir William Petre and could participate in the recusant Catholic rites – particularly the Mass, that took place at Ingatestone Hall organised by the Petre family. Byrd soon established himself as an integral part of the Petre's community and produced a lot of music specifically for Catholic liturgical use. The change obviously suited him because he produced a lot music including that found in the Cantiones Sacrae of 1591. If anyone had doubted Byrd's allegiance to the Catholic faith a quick glance at his dedication to the notorious Catholic sympathiser (and Ridolfi's co-conspirator) Lord John Lumley and the fact that the fourth item published in the collection was Byrd's setting of the Marian antiphon 'Salve regina' would have immediately dispelled them. There was absolutely no place in protestant England for this piece of Marian devotion and for Byrd to publish it was both brave and a clear declaration of faith and defiance.