The Early Music Club (EMC)

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Bogey

Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on March 03, 2012, 06:31:58 PM


The Tallis Scholars recording was both my introduction to Renassiance music and the start of my infatuation with the Tallis Scholars.


Thanks for fielding that one.  This twofer was my intro as well. 

I have a ripping headache right now, but still wanted to listen to music.  Going with this, which seems to be countering it a bit....very beautiful:

There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Que

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A beauty! :) Some brief comments: Nicholas Ludford was a new name to me, he was a contemporary of John Taverner. This seems very worthy music - what makes Ludford stand out in comparison with the English tradition of ethereal, long-spun movements, is the variation in settings and rhythmic treatment, which makes everything very expressive. But we still get the "heavenly" smooth sound, here including boys' voice, which is a big plus in this repertoire IMO. The 1st recording to do so, according to the booklet. Performance could occasionally a bit more tightly knit, but the recording was made at a festival so it comes with the territory. The recording got a Gramophone award in 2008. Here is the review:

Quote
Its a long while since David Fallows welcomed The Cardinall's Musick's recording debut with superlatives (ASV, 7/93). Ludford's six-voice festal Mass cycle on 1/Idete miraculum was followed by three other volumes, but these seemed not to quite fulfil the promise of the first; so the chance to hear again his other sixvoice settings is most welcome. Though not as showy as Taverner, his more understated idiom is every bit as persuasive. Repeated listening reveals great subtlety in the handling of texture, an exhilarating sense of confidence in formal planning, and real melodic inspiration. The opening of each movement is identical, and excludes the trebles, whose subsequent appearance in a different context is nicely managed. From the point of view of repertoire this is a major issue.
I've long admired New College's trebles, and here they show how much young singers can achieve in the way of cohesiveness, coherence and sheer persuasiveness of melodic shape. That speaks volumes, considering that, of all the
English choral repertory written for trebles, this is perhaps the most difficult for today's youngsters to master. I'd invite listeners to compare them to the recent recording by their near-neighbours Christ Church College of that cornerstone of this repertory, Taverner's Musa Glori tibi trinitas (Avie, 10/07), in which the trebles seemed to me to lack this sense of line, of unanimity of purpose. Here it's difficult to argue that adult female singers are demonstrably better equipped than boys: the advantage of bigger lungs is offset by the careful choice and placement of breaths. For the rest, I've always held that the tone of these particular trebles is anyway expressive in itself. More, please.

Review from AllMusic by James Mannheim:

QuoteNicholas Ludford was a British contemporary of John Taverner, active during the first half of the sixteenth century. His music has only recently been unearthed, and based on this recording one can say it was not only worth the trouble but might even cause some rewriting in the history books. The main attraction is the six-voice Missa Benedicta et Venerabilis, which (like other English Renaissance masses) lacks a Kyrie and is sung with appropriate office chants between the polyphonic choral movements. What is most startling is the sheer expressivity of a good deal of the music. The Incarnatus, Crucifixus, and the almost abrupt, exuberant Et Resurrexit and conclusion of the Credo (track 6) are good places to start. Ludford reduces the texture to three or four voices and seems to focus on specific passages of text in a way that brings to mind no one as much as Josquin; this in a compositional world thought to be dominated by monumental, abstract polyphony. The music employs rhythmic shifts and some striking vertical sonorities, all again seemingly linked with the text, and the text-setting has some really outlandish details: Ludford likes, for instance, to kick off a cadential drive with the last syllable of the penultimate phrase of text rather than with the final phrase or "Amen." Oddly enough, the two votive anthems surrounding the mass are more conventional in style. The venerable New College Choir Oxford (men and boys), which was around when this music was composed, delivers a strong reading, with the boy trebles getting into the meaty spirit of the work and more than making up for occasional slips to the flat side of the tone in what is certainly quite difficult music to sing, and the recording ambiance of a church in the northeastern French town of Sarrebourg is ideal. An important find for devotees of English religious music or the Renaissance mass.

This is one Ludford's "festal masses" A complete set under Carwood and the Cardinall's Musick, consisting of 4 discs was issued by ASV, but is now OP. I looked into it, but read a comment that subsequent volumes didn't live up to the promises of the 1s volume... So I leave it be for now - maybe other members can comment on that set? :)



Q

Leon

Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on March 03, 2012, 06:31:58 PM
Two different groups, two different time periods.   ...  music from that era appeals to me much less than music from the later Middle Ages/Renaissance.

I was just turning this idea over in my mind last night as I was listening to some music from the late 16th-17th C.  I find it hard to keep the composers set in their time, and the spans for Medieval and Renaissance and the stylistic differences are so large they are almost meaningless. E.g., I find I tend to think of Dufay (early 1400s, usually included in Renassaince) having more in common with Machaut (~ 100 years prior)  than say, Gesualdo (~ 100 years later), or composers from the late Renaissance.

I like so much from Machaut and the troubadours and even earlier that I don't think I can say definitively that music from the Renaissance is more liked than from the Medieval, but I think I know what you mean.  There seems to be more variety with the Renaissance.  And it may be that I like the principles of composition of the Middle Ages so much, e.g. isorhythm, and my judgment is not based entirely on the sound of the music. 

It is all such wonderful music that I refuse to say which period is more pleasing to me than the other.

:)

Bogey

Quote from: Arnold on March 04, 2012, 03:02:35 AM


It is all such wonderful music that I refuse to say which period is more pleasing to me than the other.

:)

Quote of the year. :)
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

KeithW

Quote from: Que on March 03, 2012, 11:59:08 PM


This is one Ludford's "festal masses" A complete set under Carwood and the Cardinall's Musick, consisting of 4 discs was issued by ASV, but is now OP. I looked into it, but read a comment that subsequent volumes didn't live up to the promises of the 1s volume... So I leave it be for now - maybe other members can comment on that set? :)



Q

I was fortunate to obtain this set a few years ago - I would need to go back and listen again, but recall that the whole set was a joy - as with almost everything Cardinall's Musick has produced.

Coopmv

Quote from: Jeffrey Smith on March 03, 2012, 06:31:58 PM
Two different groups, two different time periods.   There's about (speaking very roughly) a three hundred year gap between the music on the Munrow disc and the music on the Tallis Scholars disc.  [ETA: the Philips duo is composed solely of performances by the Tallis Scholars, including their nearly divine performance of Spem in Alium.   SiA and most of the other performances have been issued again (and sometimes again and again) on their own label, Gimell.]

The Tallis Scholars recording was both my introduction to Renassiance music and the start of my infatuation with the Tallis Scholars.

The Munrow recording is also another classic performance, although I rarely listen to it, as music from that era appeals to me much less than music from the later Middle Ages/Renaissance.

I pretty much have purchased all the recordings by the Tallis Scholars on the Gimell label ...

Bogey



Just landed and spinning as I type.  If you dig Spanish Renaissance, then snag this one for under 10 bones.  I would like to tell you more about the selections, but the liner notes are nonexistent.  However, purchase with confidence.
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Josquin des Prez

#407
Great news, Sweelinck's complete vocal works are currently in progress, published by Glossa:

http://www.amazon.com/Secular-Vocal-Works-Sweelinck/dp/B00284G2SA/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1331507208&sr=8-7

For those of low moral fiber, or for those who are simply too strapped on cash, the series is being currently being posted at Axahome.

According to the Sweelinck's biography i've read, his best vocal works are supposed to be the Psalms of David, but those have always received less attention then the Cantiones Sacrae, which are supposed to be less complex harmonically. This series should take care of that once and for all.

Que

#408
The Sweelinck series has already been issued in its entirety in a Dutch language edition.

Quote from: KeithW on March 05, 2012, 12:01:15 PM
I was fortunate to obtain this set a few years ago - I would need to go back and listen again, but recall that the whole set was a joy - as with almost everything Cardinall's Musick has produced.

Thanks! :)

Now a short note on this disc:

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Hans Leo Hassler is new to me. Key factor here is that Hassler studied in Venice and was influenced by Giovanni & Andrea Gabrieli as well as Roland de Lassus, and was instrumental in the influence of the Italian choral tradition on German music. Schutz built on that heritage.

Well, my conclusion upon hearing is: if you like Schutz, you'll like Hassler. Very pretty, in the sober Lutheran style akin the Schutz' works, though Hassler is a bit mellower, sweeter. Perhasp that is enhanced by Herreweghe's approach, which is as sensuous as ever. Read up on Bruno Giordano's excellent review on Amazon HERE! :)  He finds Herreweghe in this recording, despite this repertoire being outside his usual field of expertise, in top-form. The only small caveat is that Herreweghe uses bigger forces (not one-to-part) than necessary or preferable for this repertoire. I fully agree - though maybe not a must for everone, this recording is heartily recommended. Superb stuff. 8)

Recordings of Hassler's music are extremely thin on the ground, but there is this newly reissued 2CDset on Etcetera, previously available on Eufoda:

[asin]B004A8VTB2[/asin]

Q

Bogey

#409
Just picked up my third recording of this:



Different, but very enjoyable.  There was a "sacred" set from Hyperion that I want to look into.  Anyone here have any cds from that set?

Another that I have been spinning that is top-shelf is:

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There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Bogey

Not a more beautiful voice than Kirkby's to end the evening:

There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

coffee

Quote from: Coopmv on March 06, 2012, 04:51:43 PM
I pretty much have purchased all the recordings by the Tallis Scholars on the Gimell label ...

What are your 10 or so favorite?
Liberty for the wolf is death for the lamb.

Coopmv

Quote from: Bogey on March 18, 2012, 05:41:16 PM
Not a more beautiful voice than Kirkby's to end the evening:



Yeah, here is another fan of Emma - have been a fan for over 20 years ...  ;D

Coopmv

Quote from: coffee on March 21, 2012, 08:50:46 AM
What are your 10 or so favorite?

I enjoyed all the works by Tallis, Byrd and Tomkins in no particular order ...

chasmaniac

Guillaume Dufay, Missa 'Se la face ay pale'

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QuoteGuillaume Dufay's Missa se la face ay pale is one of the earliest examples of a Mass being thematically based on the melody of a secular song. All who perform this masterpiece are indebted somewhat to David Munrow, whose ground-breaking 1973 EMI (now Virgin) recording with the Early Music Consort of London remains the standard by which all are judged. In the notes, Diabolus in Musica (The Devil in Music) director Antoine Guerber dedicates this performance to Munrow's memory (he committed suicide in 1976) and describes first listening to Munrow's performance 20 years ago both as a revelation and as a key factor that inspired his love of medieval music. That humble acknowledgment aside, Guerber and colleagues also pay homage to Munrow's legacy in the most important of ways--by offering arguably the best performance of this work since that of his mentor.

Unlike Munrow, who in his recording offered Dufay's original chanson and only the five primary sections of the Mass, occasionally augmented with instrumentation, Guerber takes a more purist, authentic approach. He not only eschews instrumentation, but also for a more complete presentation reconstructs the piece as was customary during the period, adding other sacred elements (in this case the Proper for Trinity Sunday). Other performers have completed their versions in similar fashion, but in comparison to Diabolus in Musica, the harmonics and textural balances suffer because of the often unorthodox ensemble sizes. For example, the four otherwise vocally outstanding members of the Hilliard Ensemble sound insufficiently thin and austere. Binkley's full choral arrangement (Focus) impresses, though it goes to the other extreme by sounding equally disproportionate. In Guerber's version the balances and clarity are absolutely perfect. There are many moments--though especially in the Credo and Sanctus--where the ensemble's sensuous expression of Dufay's complex polyphony can only be described as a religious experience.


Alpha's sound is gorgeous--richly detailed yet not at the expense of a naturally illusionistic acoustic setting. Guerber's notes are a joy to read, and as usual, Alpha's presentation is first class. Given the caliber of these performances, perhaps Guerber will inspire others to play and listen to this repertoire much as Munrow did before him.

--John Greene, ClassicsToday.com
If I have exhausted the justifications, I have reached bedrock and my spade is turned. Then I am inclined to say: "This is simply what I do."  --Wittgenstein, PI §217

Leon


Que

Quote from: Philippe de Vitry on March 26, 2012, 10:16:09 AM
This

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:)

Looked for more info on the composer and found a helpful biography.

Q

chasmaniac

Quote from: Que on March 26, 2012, 10:27:20 PM
Looked for more info on the composer and found a helpful biography.

Q

See upthread, reply #369.
If I have exhausted the justifications, I have reached bedrock and my spade is turned. Then I am inclined to say: "This is simply what I do."  --Wittgenstein, PI §217

Leon

Quote from: chasmaniac on March 27, 2012, 02:23:17 AM
See upthread, reply #369.

He is under represented in the catalog, in my opinion. 

:)

chasmaniac

Quote from: Philippe de Vitry on March 27, 2012, 02:47:42 AM
He is under represented in the catalog, in my opinion. 

:)

I'd like to agree. The album you cite is gorgeous. But there seems to be a problem securely ascribing works to Vitry.
If I have exhausted the justifications, I have reached bedrock and my spade is turned. Then I am inclined to say: "This is simply what I do."  --Wittgenstein, PI §217