The Early Music Club (EMC)

[Florestan]

You're right of course. The other aspect is that I'm also angry that it's not available for me to stream on qobuz and spotify, so I'm sort of making a protest by not buying it. I'm exercising my power as a consumer to say NO!!!

This I can very well get.

[Mandryka]

Has anyone heard this one?

This turns out to be a fabulous thing,  music that calls to mind Hildegard sometimes. If anyone wants it they can PM me and I'll upload it.

[Vinbrulé]

Fascinating work. A voice, Benjamin Bagby ( I didn't even suspect this particular side of his art ) a flute and a harp, here and there. No more.
Old terrifying text about the end of the world and the final judgement, mainly dating before 1000 AC  .
Melodic lines are considered mostly of frankish origin.
Bagby sets before us the transmutation of a spoken text in a musical event :  what you could call  'simple, naked storytelling'  suddenly becomes music....and back.  Very impressive .
I need another listening to be sure, but the sensation of approaching a masterpiece is strong.

[Mandryka]

Andrew Kirkman's inaugural at Birmingham University here

https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/documents/college-artslaw/music/andrew-kirkman-inaugural-lecture.pdf

Well worth reading. It inspired me to look up his recording of the motet Incomprehensibilia firme, and it's every bit an amazing piece of music he says it is. Kirkman recorded it on A Marriage of England of Burgundy, and Orlando recorded it on their Busnois cd, which has Robert Harre Jones and Mark Dobell, as you'd expect the two interpretations are very different from each other.  I don't think anyone else tackled it.

[Vinbrulé]

"Musik aus der Zeit der Babenberger"  is a strange but IMO winning potpourri, a list of 21 pieces divided in 5 small groups :
a) In honorem domini
b) Heiliges Land
c) Ad laudes Marie
d) Sommer und Winter
e) Minnedienst
The voices of this group ( Les Menestrels ) are well chosen to express the various feelings of the pieces (some of them with text in Old Czech)
 

[Mandryka]

Just a quick question about sung masses.

In the mass there's a magical mystical moment when the priest holds up the wine and it turns into blood, OK. Does that happen in the Sanctus? Which bit of the mass exactly would they have been singing at that climactic moment? Or was there no singing.

I think this is called the elevation - all those baroque elevation toccatas - is that right?

[Mandryka]

yes that's what I always figured, but then I read in that transcript of Andrew Kirkman's inaugural at Birmingham University this -- he's talking about an anonymous tudor mass cycle.

I'm going to play you part of the recording of the Mass that we made several years ago; you're going to hear
two sections of the Sanctus, the point in the polyphony that marked the focal point of the Mass in the
transubstantiation, and elevation, of the host.

[Vinbrulé]

4cd box, 3 with the special voice of Agnethe Christensen plus another purely instrumental.  The fourth is devoted to Meister Rumelant, I will listen to this  disc later, but.......
.....the second cd offers the beautiful " Cantigas de amigo" by Martin Codax, a spanish secular song (Reis glorios) with its french sacred version(Virgen madre) and a series of Estampie enriched with Christensen's plausible vocalizations.
And the third !!  Hildegard !!  The perfect Hildegard compilation for a heretic listener like me !! 
Christensen's attack in Columba aspexit conveys a serenity beyond praise, then she faces without accompaniment O quam mirabilis est .... and immediately after ...a bizarre irresistible bellydance-like Ave generosa.... Yes, I know , I am a sinner .....forgive me !

[prémont]

4cd box, 3 with the special voice of Agnethe Christensen plus another purely instrumental.  The fourth is devoted to Meister Rumelant, I will listen to this  disc later,

Good to see that you like it. 

[Vinbrulé]

One other it seems, which I do not know. But i know her recordings with Alba, and do recommend them:

https://www.discogs.com/artist/1352086-Agnethe-Christensen

Found this video on YouTube, Christensen & Lena Norin together :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZVmmi08Nls

[Mandryka]

4cd box, 3 with the special voice of Agnethe Christensen plus another purely instrumental.  The fourth is devoted to Meister Rumelant, I will listen to this  disc later, but.......
.....the second cd offers the beautiful " Cantigas de amigo" by Martin Codax, a spanish secular song (Reis glorios) with its french sacred version(Virgen madre) and a series of Estampie enriched with Christensen's plausible vocalizations.
And the third !!  Hildegard !!  The perfect Hildegard compilation for a heretic listener like me !! 
Christensen's attack in Columba aspexit conveys a serenity beyond praise, then she faces without accompaniment O quam mirabilis est .... and immediately after ...a bizarre irresistible bellydance-like Ave generosa.... Yes, I know , I am a sinner .....forgive me !

I have that Meister Runelant CD, she certainly has a characterful voice and the way they use instruments is most attractive I think. The whole set of four CDs  is going for a song on eBay, I just ordered it so thanks for pointing it out.

[Vinbrulé]

4cd box, 3 with the special voice of Agnethe Christensen plus another purely instrumental.  The fourth is devoted to Meister Rumelant, I will listen to this  disc later, but.......
.....the second cd offers the beautiful " Cantigas de amigo" by Martin Codax, a spanish secular song (Reis glorios) with its french sacred version(Virgen madre) and a series of Estampie enriched with Christensen's plausible vocalizations.
And the third !!  Hildegard !!  The perfect Hildegard compilation for a heretic listener like me !! 
Christensen's attack in Columba aspexit conveys a serenity beyond praise, then she faces without accompaniment O quam mirabilis est .... and immediately after ...a bizarre irresistible bellydance-like Ave generosa.... Yes, I know , I am a sinner .....forgive me !

First listening to "Die tenschen morder-Meister Rumelant,minnesinger at the Danehof court"  :  here A.Christensen is not alone, there's another singer as well, Miriam Andersen.   

[Mandryka]

Can anyone tell me what happened to Ensemble Allégorie? I think they're really exceptional in this 2004 recording, every bit as interesting to hear as Solazzo Ensemble. Who are the singers? I especially like the man.

Like with Solazzo Ensemble, the recording catches a sense of joy in making music, an infectious joy.

[prémont]

Can anyone tell me what happened to Ensemble Allégorie? I think they're really exceptional in this 2004 recording, every bit as interesting to hear as Solazzo Ensemble. Who are the singers? I especially like the man.

Lineup:

Caroline Magalhaes, mezzo-soprano
Emmanuelle Guigues, vièles
Marie Garnier-Marzullo, cornet à bouquin & cornet muet
Francisco Orozco, ténor & luths
Jean-Paul Bazin, guiterne
Bruno Caillat, percussions

Orozco has made a few other recordings in other contexts, but they are difficult to find.

[Mandryka]

Bruno Caillat, percussions

He's really good as well I think -- possibly the most attractive use if drums on any early music CD I can recall. I found his CV online, he's working with some of the usual suspects.

https://www.compagnie-outre-mesure.com/compagnie-renaissance/artistes/bruno-caillat/


Music is just endless . . .

[Traverso]

He's really good as well I think -- possibly the most attractive use if drums on any early music CD I can recall. I found his CV online, he's working with some of the usual suspects.

https://www.compagnie-outre-mesure.com/compagnie-renaissance/artistes/bruno-caillat/


Music is just endless . . .

Only when it has no beginning 

[Mandryka]

4cd box, 3 with the special voice of Agnethe Christensen plus another purely instrumental.  The fourth is devoted to Meister Rumelant, I will listen to this  disc later, but.......
.....the second cd offers the beautiful " Cantigas de amigo" by Martin Codax, a spanish secular song (Reis glorios) with its french sacred version(Virgen madre) and a series of Estampie enriched with Christensen's plausible vocalizations.
And the third !!  Hildegard !!  The perfect Hildegard compilation for a heretic listener like me !! 
Christensen's attack in Columba aspexit conveys a serenity beyond praise, then she faces without accompaniment O quam mirabilis est .... and immediately after ...a bizarre irresistible bellydance-like Ave generosa.... Yes, I know , I am a sinner .....forgive me !

The Cantigas are really adorable, thanks for pointing out this set.

[Mandryka]

Only when it has no beginning 

Yes well that is the problem, or the opportunity, I've somehow bitten off 1,500 years of music.

[Mandryka]

I'm starting to get interested in Abelard's sequence Planctus David (Dolorum Solatium.)

Its  form is repetitive and the melody is simple enough to risk becoming irritating.  It is long, and  the audience of today doesn't  have a spontaneous understanding of oral Latin.

Despite these performance challenges,  I've found these versions, have I missed any?

Sequentia
Vox Cosmica
Ensemble für frühe musik augsburg
Schola Gregoriana of Cambridge
Hillier/Stubbs
Studio Der frühen musik
Theatre of Voices
Jeremy Summerly
Ensemble Ligeriana

Jeremy Summerly is the only one bold (foolish?) enough to take it solo a capella. All the others use instruments in some way or other apart from Schola Gregoriana. All use male voices only. Schola Gregoriana get it over with the most swiftly. Studio Der frühen music take an amazing 22 minutes, partly because of instrumental sections.

The range of approaches is quite wide. At one level, we have a capella - voice and instrumental interludes - voices and simultaneous instrumental accompaniment. At another level, styles range from relatively undemonstrative mainstream  western chant through to dramatic story telling and on to Balkan night club style.

[Mandryka]

I was pleased to find this transfer of Capilla Flamenca's first recording on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/v/1djgqYGwUyg