2019 Special Recordings.

[Mandryka]

Every month I make a playlist of new recordings which look worth exploring to me. I intend to go through the lists and see which ones feel special to me now, either because I have enjoyed them a lot and played them frequently, or because I have a very fond memory of discovering them. Here's January.



and also maybe this



The other CDs in January's list include Ugo Nastrucci playing Moninaro and La Compagnia del Madrigale playing Cipriano de Rore, but neither have had a strong impact on me.

My system also lets me see new acquisitions month by month. Some of them are good to have, like Deller Consort's quaint Gesualdo and Johannes Regis masses played by The Clerk's Group. But this caught my imagination most

[Mandryka]

There were a lot of special, memorable, new releases in February.

There were three Baroque recordings which I think are a bit special -- a 1740 Art of Fugue by Matthias Maierhoffer, well recorded, imaginatively played and a good organ; a really lovely set of gamba sonatas from Patrizia Marisaldi and Alberto Rasi -- very middle of the road but it sounds so beautiful that it's something I can play again and again. But from baroque, it's a slightly left-field release which has inspired me the most. This



I knew Royer from Rousset's two recordings, nice but totally forgettable, a petit maitre but nothing more.  Mye Hayashi is a revelation, she shows how deeply expressive, nuanced, refined, sweet  this music has the potential to be.

From early music there were two releases which continue to resound. There was a lovely compilation CD of songs by all the usuals -- Binchois, Machaut, Lassus etc.-- by Ratas del Viejo Mundo called Rions Noir. I love the voiced which seem to me to owe much to Bjorn Schmelzer, without having his tendency to make things all sound a bit the same.

And completely differently, a completely haunting manuscript recording which reeks of top class committed music making -- voices and recorders -- by Aventure, a Belgian ensemble I think, who, as far as I can see, came together for the recording. Minnesinger stuff, very much up my street.

     

Other CDs which had an impact, just not as important, included Oreste de Tommaso's Bach cello suites,

February was the month when I got hold of an old recording with a fabulous singer called Gerard le Vot. My reaction to a voice is inexplicable. He just happens to have touched the G spot.

[Mandryka]

March was a month with many special things -- a virtuosic first release of an early Pletnev concert, an exuberant Dufay CD from Gothic Voices, a wonderful and innovative Cabezon from Leon Berben, some glorious Frye and Dunstable from Andrew Kirkman/Binchois Consort. But there is one thing which, for me personally, had more emotional impact than all of those, and I'm not sure if it's the performance, the music or whatever. It could even be the coup de theatre with the bells in the Ave Maria.  And there's no promises that anyone else will feel the same way. It's a recording of church music by John Taverner sung by a big English college choir -- this puppy

[Mandryka]

This was released in 2016, but I only got to hear it in April this year. It's a tremendous thing, both the music and the performances are tremendous, Claire Antonini is reticent, like she's confiding secret thoughts, it's given me a lot of pleasure over the past few months. Mezingeau, Dufaut, that sort of thing.

[Mandryka]

April saw lots of interesting things. Ragazzi Quartet's Bartok, but there's only one quartet on the CD which interests me. Foccroulle's Praetorius, which I'm not sure about. Borsanyi's Pachelbel, which I'm sure I will love more when I get to know it better. And Beauty Farm's Obrecht is attractive intense music making, beautifully balanced, the one voice to a part texture is interesting, more than interesting in fact.  For me though, late c16 masses are not for every day listening.

In April there was another release which is just so eloquent and so spacious that I play it frequently and each time I'm astonished at the loveliness of the music, it has become a great favourite, I can't stop listening to it once I start.  It's Nigel North's second recording  devoted to Francesco da Milano.

[Mandryka]

In May a recording was released which contains music I'd certainly never heard before. And at first it repelled me, but something must have told me that something special was going on, because I didn't just abandon it, and over time I've come to see that these fantasias are some of the richest and most expressive contrapuntal music I know. I'm talking about Spirit of Gambo playing five part music by John Jenkins.



There was also a release by Huelgas Ensemble which is so beautifully recorded and sung, and which has a programme which is so rare and tasty, that it has become a great favourite. This



May also saw the release of a Dufay recording which for me was a great revelation, because it is so intimate, contemplative -- I have heard doubts from others expressed about the style and approach, which I fully understand and to some extent concur with, but nevertheless the melancholy intimacy is, for me, totally winning.  It's from Orlando Consort



There were about 10 new releases which caught my attention in May, and many of them have been a great pleasure to listen to. These three, I think, have been the most consistently rewarding, not least because of the quality and rarity of the music.

[Mandryka]

June saw a major new release of Frescobaldi's keyboard music from Francesco Cera, which sounds as though it should be promising, but so far hasn't won a place in my heart. But there were two recordings which most certainly did win a place in my heart, and have been frequently played. One is Lex Eisenhardt playing Domenico Rainer, a new composer for me. And the other is Ensemble Dionea with another composer who was new to me too, Gilles Joye.

.         

[JBS]

Serendipity: the Cera set landed in my mailbox today.  At the very least, it has the fullest instrument description I remember of any similar set.

[San Antone]

April saw lots of interesting things. Ragazzi Quartet's Bartok, but there's only one quartet on the CD which interests me. Foccroulle's Praetorius, which I'm not sure about. Borsanyi's Pachelbel, which I'm sure I will love more when I get to know it better. And Beauty Farm's Obrecht is attractive intense music making, beautifully balanced, the one voice to a part texture is interesting, more than interesting in fact.  For me though, late c16 masses are not for every day listening.

In April there was another release which is just so eloquent and so spacious that I play it frequently and each time I'm astonished at the loveliness of the music, it has become a great favourite, I can't stop listening to it once I start.  It's Nigel North's second recording  devoted to Francesco da Milano.

Agreed.  Nigel North usually puts out quality recordings.  These two volumes of the music of Francesco da Milano are self-recommending.

[Mandryka]

In July, there was a really imaginative release which has given me a lot of pleasure over the past six months: Vivat Rzeczpospolita by Schola Gregoriana Silensis. It's a recording which orients itself around a special celebratory mass given in Lublin in 1569. It's a full mass presented in a historically informed way: propers of quite characterful imitative counterpoint by a composer who I hadn't heard of before called Krzysztof Borek, chanted ordinaries, and newly conceived trombone and cornet interludes. The whole thing is wonderful: the concept,  the music, the sound, the performance.

[Mandryka]

Part of the reason this Gesualdo release in September had a strong impact on me is the quality of the singing. The affinity that modern music has for early music has been frequently noted, it's really common to find performers who do both, and that's because both need a sensitivity for short range complexity, and the patience to make sense of unorthodox scores. Exaudi are more grist to the mill, this is a really nice Gesualdo CD.

But more importantly in a way, another reason this is a special release for me is that it led me to another CD, older, of Gesualdo/Finnissy and De Rore/Finnissy  "reinterpretations", and it's magic!

[Mandryka]

This is another September release which has given me a lot of pleasure.  Fred Jacobs is the sort of musician who knows how to take the listener gently and firmly by the hand and simply lead him through the music, without fuss, without showing off. This is one of the things I value most in music.

And what music. The selection is from Bk 3, much less baroque, ironically enough, than the Frescobaldi I know. What I mean is that the feeling of virtuoso music is has vanished, and in its place is a patrician confidence of utterance, clear confident articulation. If you know what I mean. Later kapsberger reminds me of later Visée.

Anyway, love it.

[prémont]

February was the month when I got hold of an old recording with a fabulous singer called Gerard le Vot. My reaction to a voice is inexplicable. He just happens to have touched the G spot.

Do you know this?

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8604578--ultima-lacrima

[San Antone]

Do you know this?

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8604578--ultima-lacrima

I do, and like it (although the Jews Harp is a little quirky, and I'm not sure if it was in use during the Middle Ages).  It is on Spotify, which is where I've listened to it.

[Mandryka]

Todd  McComb says of Gerard De Vot, that the expression is "direct" - it seems quite good taste to me, though personally I could do without the Jews Harp.

[Mandryka]

This was released very recently and I've had for just about three weeks, so too early to say much except this. It has been a constant source of pleasure for sound, for performance and for the programme. Such a fantastic selection of rare music. At the moment, this is a real favourite CD of mine.

[Carlo Gesualdo]

Great post Mandryka I have some of the records you post Giovanni de la Macque, Gesualdo on Exaudi is wvery well done one of the best Gesualdo rendition I heard, Guillaume Dufay on Hyperion and O rosa Bella all amazing recording and thanks for the other inside.