Topic: The Early Music Club (EMC)

[Heather Harrison]

It is hard to know where to begin.  There is so much out there.  When I first got into Renaissance music (around 1990), I bought whatever I could find because there wasn't a lot around.  From about the mid-1990's, availability became a lot better and many excellent new recordings appeared.  You would probably do well following the recommendations others have given here.  I'll add a few more.

The Naxos early music series, which has been mentioned, is a good inexpensive way to explore Renaissance music; there are a number of good releases out there.  I haven't seen many of them in stores, but they are easy to get on the web.  Check out sound samples and see what you like.

Also, I have thought of a particular CD that I find to be a great example of late Renaissance/early Baroque vocal music.  Praetorius:  Polyhymnia Caduceatrix & Panegyrica.  La Capella Ducale; Musica Fiata.  This CD is out of print, but used copies usually seem to be available.  The music is gorgeous, and the performance is great.  I can't figure out why this is out of print.  Amazon has sound samples if you want to check it out.  If this one is a pain to get, other CDs of the vocal music of Praetorius are certainly worth checking out.



If you check this out and like the style, you might also want to look for music by Giovanni Gabrieli; his music is richly complex and beautiful.

If you want to check out Renaissance/early Baroque music of a more folksy style, there is a lot of music from the British Isles that is enjoyable.  One of my favorite groups that performs this style is the Baltimore Consort; they released a number of CDs for Dorian in the 1990's.  This is the popular music of the day; it is fairly straightforward, and a lot of fun.  Since Dorian went under, a lot of their CDs are now out of print, but used copies are readily available.  Some are still in print; it seems that someone is trying to resurrect the Dorian label, so hopefully their many excellent early music CDs will return to the marketplace.  Incidentally, while I was looking, I discovered CDs by the Baltimore Consort that I don't have yet, including a new one that just came out.  I might just have to order them.

Heather

[hornteacher]

Mentioned in Mark's list is PRAETORIUS: Dances from Terpsichore.  This is a marvellous collection of several hundred short instrumental dance selections that are great for listening to the various instruments of the time (shawm, crumhorn, sackbut, etc).

[Lethevich]

If you want to check out Renaissance/early Baroque music of a more folksy style, there is a lot of music from the British Isles that is enjoyable.  One of my favorite groups that performs this style is the Baltimore Consort; they released a number of CDs for Dorian in the 1990's.  This is the popular music of the day; it is fairly straightforward, and a lot of fun.  Since Dorian went under, a lot of their CDs are now out of print, but used copies are readily available.  Some are still in print; it seems that someone is trying to resurrect the Dorian label, so hopefully their many excellent early music CDs will return to the marketplace.  Incidentally, while I was looking, I discovered CDs by the Baltimore Consort that I don't have yet, including a new one that just came out.  I might just have to order them.

Discs like those are some of my favourites - the music is inventive and in a variety of forms, it's like a fun potpourri. A particularly cheap and decent one is this twofer:

[Kullervo]

Well, perhaps needless to say, I've added a lot of stuff to my ever-growing wishlist.

[Heather Harrison]

Discs like those are some of my favourites - the music is inventive and in a variety of forms, it's like a fun potpourri. A particularly cheap and decent one is this twofer:

I have that one, and it is very good.  This group (Musicians of Swanne Alley) has other good recordings too.

Heather

[Que]

A friend loaned this to me, it's absolutely beautifull! 

This recording seems very good, are there any others to consider?



Q

[jochanaan]

I can imagine it's good, Que.  I know only one piece by Tomas Luis de Victoria, "O Magnum Mysterium," but that one is so beautiful I would be interested in any other music by him.

[Que]

I can imagine it's good, Que.  I know only one piece by Tomas Luis de Victoria, "O Magnum Mysterium," but that one is so beautiful I would be interested in any other music by him.

The main contender to the McCreesh recording seems to be David Hill (Hyperion).
He uses smaller forces and boy sopranos instead of counter-tenors/sopranists.



Hope somebody would like to comment on these!

Q

[FideLeo]

The main contender to the McCreesh recording seems to be David Hill (Hyperion).
He uses smaller forces and boy sopranos instead of counter-tenors/sopranists.

Smaller forces?  I am not sure that is true.  After all, McCreesh uses only 3-5 voices
for each part apart from the plainchants.  I have the Hill recording which is VERY
reverberantly recorded (the Westminster Cathedral sound!).  It may sound just
perfect for the work though, so dark and sensual it almost feels unreal.   
Indeed there is an overall declining and decaying atmosphere that truly befits
Victoria's Requiem, which has been argued to represent the end of the centuries-old
Franco-Flemish polyphonic tradition in church music.

I have an interesting Victoria recording "Et Jesum" featuring the outstanding Spanish
countertenor singer Carlos Mena (Harmonia mundi).  Following contemporary
examples, Mena sings arrangements of Victoria motets and mass movements in which
the top line remains vocal but all other parts have been redone in a tablature style for
a vihuela solo plus, in some pieces, echoes from a most magical sounding cornetto. 
The results are remarkably similar to English lute songs from around the same time
but perhaps even more hauntingly "cantabile" in character.

Angus dei from Missa O magnum mysterium (Carlos Mena, vocal; Juan Carlos Rivera, vihuela da mano)

[Que]

Smaller forces?  I am not sure that is true.  After all, McCreesh uses only 3-5 voices
for each part apart from the plainchants. 

Then one of the comments I read is erroneous - thanks for your helpful comments! 

I have an interesting Victoria recording "Et Jesum" featuring the outstanding Spanish
countertenor singer Carlos Mena (Harmonia mundi).  Following contemporary
examples, Mena sings arrangements of Victoria motets and mass movements in which
the top line remains vocal but all other parts have been redone in a tablature style for
a vihuela solo plus, in some pieces, echoes from a most magical sounding cornetto. 
The results are remarkably similar to English lute songs from around the same time
but perhaps even more hauntingly "cantabile" in character.

Angus dei from Missa O magnum mysterium (Carlos Mena, vocal; Juan Carlos Rivera, vihuela da mano)

And another thanks for the sample - sounds very nice indeed.

Q

[Que]

Please, need some fresh input on Renaissance music!

After Victoria and Escobar, I was wondering if this might be a good idea:



Is it? Any comments on the recording, any alternatives for this recording or suggestions on other Spanish (Iberian) music from the Renaissance?

Q

[FideLeo]

Please, need some fresh input on Renaissance music!

After Victoria and Escobar, I was wondering if this might be a good idea:



Is it? Any comments on the recording, any alternatives for this recording or suggestions on other Spanish (Iberian) music form the Reniassance?

Q

Sticking with sacred polyphony, there is the Portuguese also:

http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/cds/hmu1543.htm

[The new erato]

Please, need some fresh input on Renaissance music!

After Victoria and Escobar, I was wondering if this might be a good idea:



Is it? Any comments on the recording, any alternatives for this recording or suggestions on other Spanish (Iberian) music form the Reniassance?

Q

Yes it is. And the recordings of Morales by the same forces are also very recommendable. As are this:



Lots of different stuff here, the Morales extracts are stunning.

[Que]

Yes it is. And the recordings of Morales by the same forces are also very recommendable. As are this:



Lots of different stuff here, the Morales extracts are stunning.

Sticking with sacred polyphony, there is the Portuguese also:

http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/cds/hmu1543.htm

Great, thanks guys! That site is a valuable source of information on Early Music, though I sometimes get lost in it!
From the list of Portuguese Renaissance composers Manuel Cardoso seems worth checking out.
And so does Christóbal Morales.

Q

[Lethevich]

I have a soft spot for Juan Vásquez - his Agenda Defunctorum is a big collection of various pieces (a bit like Monteverdi's Vespers), and are all on a very high level. I don't think that the following disc is complete, but beggers can't be choosers, and it sounds great

[Que]

Thanks Lethe, for your recommendation.

In my quest for Early Music I wondered about Giovanni da Palestrina - any recommendations?

How is this Brilliant set?



Q

[Lethevich]

How is this Brilliant set?

Very good, although can sound a little unpolished compared to performances I tend to prefer (the type that would make most people on this forum projectile vomit), such as the disc below. The individual lines are clearer in the PCA recordings and the effect is less blended than "traditional" performances, there is also a spontaneous and involved feel to the music. Sound quality is rather good, and the booklets are almost worthless just like many Brilliant issues.



This disc is so sumptuous and bang on perfect that I am sure it would bore many due to its lack of "notable features"/interesting performance decisions, but it sounds simply gorgeous to me. IMO going down this route with Palestrina in particular is effective due to his general lack of dissonance and already "perfected" music with nothing approaching a rough edge - accentuating that can produce amazingly beautiful results. A little aloof, yeah, but that's how I'd imagine angels to be anyway

(Sorry about the slightly crappy descriptions, I find it a little difficult to describe early music.)

[Que]

Thanks, Lethe. I have noted that Palestrina box Brilliant.
I think I'm into "unpolished" performances...
It's a pity about the lack of liner notes with Brilliant, saw the same recordings (originally on ASV) on Regis - but of corse more expensive, and even a CD less....



Anyone else with some Palestrina recommendations? 

Q

[FideLeo]

Got a 10/10 on ClassicstodayFrance.
Anyone heard it? Does anyone know this ensemble?

Pedro Memesdorf is a very fine recorder player and Mala punica (pomergranates) is his ensemble.  I don't see anything particularly "dark" in this music (Codex Faenza) though, other than the pitch black background in the cover graphic (of what looks like the gilt pinnacles of a rood screen - Italian Gothic style).

[Kullervo]

 

It is thus all the more scandalous as more no volume of their discography is currently available, that they are the recordings published at Arcana, Erato or Harmonized Mundi, when certain poor discs but more salesmen, them, are regularly republished.

Haha