The Early Music Club (EMC)

[mozartsneighbor]

Excellent recommendations so far -- already have 90% of the cds recommended so far, though!
I would like to add Robert Fayrfax, an excellent polyphonic composer that I discovered a few months ago: glorious music.
I would start with this:

[The new erato]

Be aware there's a cheap triple of Fayrfax available, might be a better solution than to go for individuale discs.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/earlymusic.php  have an early music sale.

The triple is available at 19 Euro, and the singles at 7.50. This goes for their essential Ockeghem series as well, and the superb Obrecht -Missa Sub Tuum Praesidium.

[mozartsneighbor]

Be aware there's a cheap triple of Fayrfax available, might be a better solution than to go for individuale discs.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/earlymusic.phphave an early music sale.

The triple is available at 19 Euro, and the singles at 7.50. This goes for their essential Ockeghem series as well, and the superb Obrecht -Missa Sub Tuum Praesidium.

Many thanks -- I already have the Fayrfax triple. Now, the Ockeghem I don't have... thanks for the tip.

[prémont]

Anyone wanna suggest a good Frescobaldi keyboard CD?

Someone who really puts the fresco in Frescobaldi? 

I would suggest one of these three harpsichord CDs, preferably containing Toccatas:

Enrico Baiano  on Symphonia

Scott Ross     on Virgin

Pierre Hantaï    on Astreé

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Needed: a complete recording of J.H. Schein's Banchetto Musicale, one of the earliest significant collections of instrumental music (1617).

A number of recordings contain a few of the 20 suites - Savall recorded several; there are also some on the famous old DG Archiv "Renaissance Dance Music" LP - but I have never seen a complete recording of the whole thing. Some enterprising label should undertake to bring all of this austere yet vivacious music to us in a unified package.

[Florestan]

this austere yet vivacious music

Makes me very, very curious...

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Makes me very, very curious...

Here's what made me curious: this quote about Schein by Stephen Schwarz, which I found at Jim Moskowitz's Unknown Composers page:

"A respectable choral composer, but a wonderful instrumental composer, pre-Bach. There's an almost Romantic depth of introspection and melancholy in the music. Try the suites for mixed instruments."

By which I assume he means Banchetto Musicale, since I don't think Schein wrote any other instrumental suites.

[Dr. Dread]

Makes me very, very curious...

Me too.

Am I right in thinking that a lot of early music is more vocal-oriented than later music?

[Bulldog]

Me too.

Am I right in thinking that a lot of early music is more vocal-oriented than later music?

It also seems that most folks prefer early music vocal to pure instrumental. 

[SonicMan46]

Hello Dave - comin' in late to your thread - I'm a BIG FAN of  pre-Baroque music (so will not offer suggestions from the Baroque era, arguably about 1600-1750; of course both dates can be 'stretched or shrunked'!  ).

At the present, I probably have nearly 200 CDs that fit into this 'Medieval-Renaissance' musical period; much of this music can be divided into 'secular' and 'sacred' categories, and also into pure vocal (a cappella) vs. instrumental or a combination) - I love it all!

So, hard for me to just start out w/ recommendations, but I've reviewed the previous posts (and already have much listed); so maybe a couple of compilations may be useful to those just getting started, so will post two collections from the recordings of David Munrow and the Early Music Consort of London - these are a great intro to this music (not sure if these are now OOP?):

The Art of Courtly Love - French secular music of 1300-1475; main composers include Guillaume de Machaut, Gilles Binchois, & Guillaume Dufay - these guys are some of the GREATS from this period!

The Art of the Netherlands - obviously more Northern European works (mainly 15th & 16th centuries); multiple and important composers of the time, i.e. Josquin Desprez, Johannes Ockeghem, Jacob Obrecht, et al - again, some of the greats from that era & geography.

Now, I have many additional discs of each of these composers, so will see 'how' this thread develops - would be interesting to form some kind of 'outline' to present this vast material!  Dave 

 

[KevinP]

Love that disc. Listened to it yesterday. But this one is even better:


The requiem sounds almost romantic--and Savall isn't one to romanticise early composers.

The Battalia sound downright postmodern (well, one movement anyway).

[Dr. Dread]

Thanks for the recommendations, guys. I appreciate the effort, and I'm sure the other early music fans do too. I guess this little thread has taken off, at least for the time being. Not sure how long it will stay aloft but it will be fun while it lasts.

[Coopmv]

Me too.

Am I right in thinking that a lot of early music is more vocal-oriented than later music?

Indeed, the instrumentation is also quite sparse, if that is the right term for it.

[Dr. Dread]

I'm curious, what's some of the earliest music available on disc?

Also, does anyone know any good websites on this subject?

Thank you.

[Coopmv]

I'm curious, what's some of the earliest music available on disc?

Also, does anyone know any good websites on this subject?

Thank you.

Music of Hildegard of Bingen has to be among the earliest of the early music that was recorded. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_of_Bingen

[Dr. Dread]

Music of Hildegard of Bingen has to be among the earliest of the early music that was recorded. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_of_Bingen

Of course I've heard of her but I don't know her history so I'll read that link shortly, Coop.

I was messing around on Amazon and ran across the Unicorn Ensemble on Naxos. Anyone have their discs? Comments? Thank you.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Indeed, the instrumentation is also quite sparse, if that is the right term for it.

A better word is "non-existent." Most early instrumental music does not specify instrumentation, so you can arrange it any way you want.

Supposedly the first piece that specifies instrumentation is Gabrieli's Sonata pian' e forte (1597).

[sul G]

I'm curious, what's some of the earliest music available on disc?

Well, there are discs which attempt to reconstruct ancient Greek music. I only have this one:



but sticking 'ancient greek' into Amazon revealed a couple more:

 

And then there are recordings of Byzantine chant, which dates back to the 400s IIRC. Stick 'keyrouz' into amazon to find a couple:

(I have this one)
(I don't have this - it might be the same disc repackaged)

I'm not sure, however, is this is precisely what you meant...

[sul G]

My single favourite medieval disc, however, from quite a number, is this one:



Beg, borrow or steal a copy! Josquin has already hinted that music of this period - the late 14th century - is well worth focusing upon. Those few decades, in fact, provide the pre-Baroque music I return to most, again and again. This is the period of the 'ars subtilior', aka the 14th century avant garde, in which musical complexity and experimentation, especially in the area of rhythm, reached a level it would not return to for hundreds of years. The furthest extreme, perhaps, is Matteo da Perugia's Le greygnour bien, which is available on this disc in possibly the best of the four versions I have of it. Others worth trying in this area are:

     

though if you want to hear Le greygnour in an absolutely bonkers, superfast performance evidently meant to emphasize its oddness, try this:

(it's three albums reissued on two discs, and though it's old - early early music, if you like - it's charming and provides a good overview of the three areas it covers: Machaut, the aforementioned 14th century music, and Dufay)

I'm sure Josquin can provide some more recommendations.

[canninator]

Of course I've heard of her but I don't know her history so I'll read that link shortly, Coop.

I was messing around on Amazon and ran across the Unicorn Ensemble on Naxos. Anyone have their discs? Comments? Thank you.

I have the Cantigas de Santa Maria. Unicorn Ensemble use their own period instruments to recreate the instrumentation with the Cantigas. Of course, the Cantigas do not have instrumental scoring but do have (as I recall from the facsimile) miniatures of the kinds of instruments used. There are some instrumental pieces on this recording and I presume that is taken from the vocal score. Overall, reasonably accomplished but nothing to rush out for.