The Early Music Club (EMC)

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Leon

#420
Quote from: chasmaniac on March 27, 2012, 03:00:08 AM
I'd like to agree. The album you cite is gorgeous. But there seems to be a problem securely ascribing works to Vitry.

True, but there is more evidence for him than most of the period.  Here's part (there's considerably more, I just grabbed the first two graphs) of the Grove entry about his works and detective work on making attributions.

Apart from the special case of Machaut, most 14th-century music survives anonymously. Only two works are attributed in any musical source to Vitry. One of these (Impudenter circuivi/Virtutibus) was in F-Sm 222 (burned in 1871), the other (O canenda/Rex quem) is in a fragment (CH-Fcu Z 260) whose authority may be somewhat undermined in that its other piece is misattributed to Machaut. In Vitry we encounter a well-known public figure of formidable learning and authority whose general culture and musical composition are attested in a wide range of extra-musical sources, encouraging the enterprise of identifying his music among anonymously transmitted pieces. Vitry's stature not only as a theorist but as a composer was first revived by Besseler, the first to attribute (eight) anonymous motets to him. Schrade extended this list to the 14 (plus one without music) in his edition.

The evidence on which modern scholars have proposed such identifications includes internal evidence from the poetic texts, such as the authorial 'hec concino Philippus' of Cum statua/Hugo, and the possibly self-referential 'concinat Gallus' in Tribum/Quoniam. The vituperative style that seems to be characteristic of Vitry may be reflected in vocabulary. Citations in treatises and literary sources are also taken as evidence for his authorship: motet titles are cited in three chapters of Ars nova, one on variations between perfect and imperfect modus and tempus, one on the use of red notes. Now that this treatise's connection to Vitry has been loosened, an earlier notion, itself questionable, that such self-citation guaranteed his authorship of a group of works including some of the Fauvel motets, fades further, while not disqualifying their attribution on other grounds. Douce/Garison is mentioned by Gaces de la Bugne as a work of Vitry's, naming him also as Bishop of Meaux (thus dating the mention after 1351); Kügle interpreted this reference as indicating an early work. Cum statua/Hugo and Vos/Gratissima are attributed to Vitry in the Quatuor principalia. The manuscript F-Pn lat.3343 contains the ballade De terre en grec Gaulle appellee, and also presents the texts of Phi millies Deus pulcherrime/O Creator, for which no music survives, and the triplum text of Petre clemens/Lugentium with the ascription 'hunc motetum fecit Philippus de Vitriaco pro papa Clemente', an ascription now corroborated by Wathey (1993) with a precise dating. Transmission of motet texts without music but with attribution to Vitry has also been taken as evidence of his authorship of these motets. The implication that he wrote his own texts is corroborated by parallel passages in motets, and in books from his library with those passages marked or annotated by him. Tribum/Quoniam has now been more firmly linked with Vitry in this way (Wathey, 1998). It must now be asked whether such separate survival is sufficiently strong evidence for the attribution of other motet texts preserved in this way, since the same group also includes some motets ascribed to him on independent grounds (notably Flos/Celsa but also the still questionable Quid scire/Dantur); some of these are mentioned in treatises. Attributions are also based on style and construction as well as on links between pieces (see especially Leech-Wilkinson, Kügle, Coplestone-Crow).


[Margaret Bent and Andrew Wathey. "Vitry, Philippe de." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 27 Mar. 2012.]

chasmaniac

#421
I don't have access to the Grove. Good to see the academics are hard at work!  :)

I am myself frustrated by the relative paucity of Ars Nova works in the catalogue, even including, as I do, the Ars Subtilior among them. Vitry, Machaut, Landini, Ciconia and Anonymous -- that's it! for substantial recorded oeuvres at least.  :-\ Then you've reached Binchois and Dufay and the music has a different character altogether.

If you've discovered more 14c beauties than I have, do tell!

Edited to add: I failed to mention the marvellous Solage. But what does his stuff amount to, half a disc? Alas!
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, 04:22:34 AM
I don't have access to the Grove. Good to see the academics are hard at work!  :)

I am myself frustrated by the relative paucity of Ars Nova works in the catalogue, even including, as I do, the Ars Subtilior among them. Vitry, Machaut, Landini, Ciconia and Anonymous -- that's it! for substantial recorded oeuvres at least.  :-\ Then you've reached Binchois and Dufay and the music has a different character altogether.

If you've discovered more 14c beauties than I have, do tell!

Edited to add: I failed to mention the marvellous Solage. But what does his stuff amount to, half a disc? Alas!

Jacopo da Bologna: Italian Madrigals of the 14th Century



Monch von Salzburg

[asin]B000001MOK[/asin]

There is a workable list of composers from the 14th century (and earlier) at Wikipedia.  In many cases some of their work can be found on Amazon, either on a disc devoted to them on among a compilation of 14th C. music.

:)

chasmaniac

I've ordered up 4 deletes from BRO. Ring any bells?

Ars Nova: Il Trecento, Ensemble Real, Arion 68462
Bestiarium: Animals and Nature in Medieval Music, La Reverdie, Cantus 9601
Vous ou la mort: Canciones flamencas de amor cortés en el siglo XV, Concerto Palatino, Cantus 9607
Medée Fu: Música francesa e italiana de finales del siglo XIV, Ensemble Tritonus XIV, Verso 2005
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

chasmaniac

#424
I dilettosi fiori: 14th Century Music for Clavisimbalum and Flutes, Corina Marti

[asin]B006T6HHZU[/asin]

One doesn't hear a clavisimbalum every day, by gum. 'Tis gossamer, gossamer, I tells ya! The notes form a fine essay, by the way. Can't find a review, so here's a blurb:

QuoteLate fourteenth-century instrumental music that forms the core of the present release comes from the two most important surviving sources of this repertoire: the London and the Faenza codices. While the performance medium repeatedly employed in recordings of both monophonic and polyphonic instrumental music of the Late Middle Ages has been a band of various instruments, the present recital demonstrates, that all it takes to bring this exquisite music back to life is a single, persuasive performer. Corina Marti sets out "in search of the delightful flowers" (Jacopo da Bologna) hidden in those two distinct universes of Late Medieval music, the monophonic and the polyphonic. In this, her solo debut, she achieves a remarkable variety by juxtaposing the sound of recorders (including the double recorder so frequently seen in the fourteenth-century Italian iconography) and of a clavisimbalum – a reconstruction of the earliest form of a harpsichord.
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

kishnevi

#425
Quote from: Que on March 28, 2012, 10:45:56 PM
[asin]B00795C6CO[/asin]

A whole list of delectable goodies, but this one jumps out! :) Since the discovery of this important Striggio mass, only one other recording has been issued, and that was not quite what I was looking for: (very) large forces and in British choral style. I was waiting for a more appropriate approach and Niquet might be the ticket. Please keep me posted on that one. :)

Q

Not sure about it.  I was going to say it makes the music sound like Gabrieli a generation too early, but then I realized I was thinking mostly of the Benevoli pieces, which date well after Gabrieli, not to mention Striggio.

There is one singer per part, but many of the vocal lines are doubled by instruments, so it's not pure a cappella.  Since Striggio himself is documented to have used instruments at least some of the time in performing the mass,  it's not unHIP.   But Tallis Scholars style performance it isn't. 

I do suggest getting it--the non Striggio pieces are at least as interesting and well performed, and presumably not well represented by recordings.  They include  Orazio Benevoli (Laetatus sum, Miserere, Magnificat) and mass propers by Francesco Corteccia; the recording is sequenced to represent a Mass of St. John the Baptist as sung in the Duomo of Florence during Striggio's lifetime (Corteccia was then the music master of the cathedral),  but with the Benevoli motets anachronistically included.

Que

Very helpful insights about that new recording - thanks, Jeffrey! :)

Q

bumtz

Just got this one yesterday, and listened to it three times in a row. Ferrara Ensemble is excellent as always.

[asin]B00354XVLI[/asin]

Leon

Quote from: chasmaniac on March 29, 2012, 04:45:40 AM
I dilettosi fiori: 14th Century Music for Clavisimbalum and Flutes, Corina Marti

[asin]B006T6HHZU[/asin]

One doesn't hear a clavisimbalum every day, by gum. 'Tis gossamer, gossamer, I tells ya! The notes form a fine essay, by the way. Can't find a review, so here's a blurb:

I found this disc on Spotify and am listening to it now.  Very nice; reminds me of a cimbalum.

chasmaniac

Quote from: bumtz on April 06, 2012, 12:22:34 AM
Just got this one yesterday, and listened to it three times in a row. Ferrara Ensemble is excellent as always.

[asin]B00354XVLI[/asin]

I'll have to spin this. Haven't heard it in a while.
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

Bogey

Well, after all the positive reviews here and a $25 gift card from my sister, I grabbed this still in the shrink wrap for 10 bones:

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: Bogey on April 09, 2012, 05:13:30 PM
Well, after all the positive reviews here and a $25 gift card from my sister, I grabbed this still in the shrink wrap for 10 bones:



Well done!  I paid more than that, but still thought I got a bargain given the quality.

Bogey

Quote from: KeithW on April 09, 2012, 05:30:46 PM
Well done!  I paid more than that, but still thought I got a bargain given the quality.

It is quickly becoming a standard here. :D
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

Mr. Stevens Senior

#433


[asin]B0002XNM96[/asin]
[asin]B000H0MNK8[/asin]

Mine.  Mine Mine.  Mine mine mine mine mine mine mine mine mine!

I have to point out, however, that the first one's available at Presto (where I got it), for a little more than half the amazon seller's price.

Que

A quick note on this disc for those amongst us that are interested in late Renaissance keyboard music:

[asin]B0014C5YFY[/asin]

As you can tell from the Vermeer on the cover and the name of the owner of the virginal book performed here, the music on this disc is from the Netherlands.

How does Dutch Renaissance keyboard music sound like? Well, it's stylistically closest to the English tradition, but with influences from France and Italy. This is not highbrow music from the period, but a very cute disc indeed. Performed are adaptations of psalm settings, dances and songs. They are interspersed by flute music by Jacob van Eyk, performed by Patrick Denecker. Not an indispensable disc per se, but with unusual repertoire, beautifully performed. As said: a cute disc for those into this kind of stuff! :)

Also note the use of a type of a typically Flemish double virginal (this might be of interest to Dave (Sonic)!) called "mother and child" (moeder en kind) - a smaller, higher tuned, virginal is inside the "mother" virginal and can be played separately. See also the explanation by Johan van Veen in the review quoted below. Unfortunately of this particular instrument, a copy after Ruckers, I couldn't find a suitable picture. But here is a very similar looking one: (the "child" is placed left inside the "mother")



Johan van Veen tells you everything else you need to know about this recording:
It is a well-known collection of pieces for many keyboard players, the so-called Susanne van Soldt-manuscript, or - as it is called here - Virginal Book. The latter name reflects what Guy Penson thinks this music was intended for, the virginals. That isn't a matter of bold speculation: the manuscript reflects the music practice in the Netherlands, and the virginals were arguably the most widespread keyboard instrument among the upper class in the Low Countries. Antwerp was a centre of keyboard building, and a famous builder like Ruckers built many virginals, some of which have been preserved.

The question musicologists have tried to answer is who this Susanne van Soldt might have been. One of them is Alan Curtis, who edited the modern edition of this manuscript, published in 1961. It seems almost certain that Susanne van Soldt was the daughter of a wealthy Protestant merchant from Antwerp, who fled to London after the siege of the city by the Spanish in 1585. The archives of the Dutch Reformed Church in London record a baptism of a Susanne, daughter of Hans van Soldt, on 20 May 1586. As Susanne put her name and the year 1599 on the fly leaf of the manuscript, one may conclude that it contained material for her keyboard lessons, which would fit with her age of 13.

The manuscript contains pieces which were very popular in the Low Countries. Most of them are dances and songs, the kind of pieces frequently published by printers in Paris and Antwerp. Some are based on French, others on Italian models. They contain moderate ornamentation, also a argument for the assumption this was material for educational purposes. In addition some slightly ornamented harmonisations of Psalm settings are in the manuscript. The melodies are from the Genevan Psalter, used by the French Huguenots and the Calvinists in the Netherlands. This is additional evidence that Susanne van Soldt belonged to a Protestant family.

Guy Penson uses two different kind of virginals, both copied after historical originals by Jef Van Boven in Ekeren. The first is a typical Ruckers instrument, called a mother and child virginal. "The name 'mother and child'coms from a peculiarity in the instrument's construction: insid the instrument is another smaller virginal that can be removed, like a baby leaving its mother's womb. This smaller virginal sounds an octave higher and can be played separately as well as being coupled to the main keyboard. After having removed the jack rail from the main instrument, the smaller instrument is placed on top of the larger; thanks to a clever mechanism, the jacks of the larger instrument also push those of the smaller instrument and the two arrays of strings thus play simultaneously" (Jérôme Lejeune in the booklet). The other instrument is a 'normal' instrument, also modelled after an original Ruckers instrument; it is what was called a muselaer in the Low Countries.

Pieces from this collection are regularly performed and recorded, but this is the first recording of the complete manuscript. This was a splendid idea as it not only gives a very good impression of music life in the Low Countries around 1600, but also contains very good and enoyable music. Guy Penson has ordered the pieces in such a way that there is a large amount of variety in form and character between the pieces. He also has ordered them in groups, which are played almost without interruption. This ensures this is more than a sequence of very short pieces - most last less than 2 minutes. In addition Patrick Denecker plays some pieces by Jacob van Eyck, th famous Dutch recorder player of the 17th century. He is historically quite a bit later than the time this manuscript was compiled, but stylistically he is pretty close to what this collection contains. Denecker also joins Guy Penson in some pieces from the Susanne van Soldt-manuscript, and Penson on his turn joins Denecker in one of Van Eyck's pieces.

This is a very interesting and musically enthralling recording. Many of the melodies will be familiar to people who regularly listen to 'early music'. Both artists give splendid performances, lively, imaginative and with rhythmic flexibility. The instruments have been excellently recorded and the booklet gives all the information one needs. In short, an exemplary production.

Johan van Veen (© 2009)


Q

Coopmv

Quote from: Bogey on April 09, 2012, 05:13:30 PM
Well, after all the positive reviews here and a $25 gift card from my sister, I grabbed this still in the shrink wrap for 10 bones:



Welcome to the club, Bill.  This set has been in my collection for close to 2 years ...

Que

#436


Quote from: The new erato on May 09, 2012, 11:17:07 PM
I do seriously wonder if not Lassus Pentitential Psalms is the greatest late renaissance music ever written.

I'm just getting into it, but it's absolutely gorgeous! :) Lassus is IMO definitely one of the big ones in Early music.

I'm very happy with this recording - the combination Lassus & Herreweghe has worked for me splendedly so far! Do you have the same? :)

Q

The new erato

#437
Quote from: Que on May 10, 2012, 09:45:48 PM


I'm just getting into it, but it's absolutely gorgeous! :) Lassus is IMO definitely one of the big ones in Early music.

I'm very happy with this recording - the combination Lassus & Herreweghe has worked for me splendedly so far! Do you have the same? :)

Q
Yes I do and I agree. I also have the Hyperion set (not as good). But I do absolutely love the old Bruno Turner/Pro Cantione Antiqua recordings of some of these psalms on Archiv, even though they are not as technically accomplished as modern ensembles they have an almost frightening intensity. I feel as if those guys really were repenting.

Compared to the breadth of his catalogue and his reputation, Lassus is probably the most seriously underrecorded composer of all.

Que

#438
Quote from: The new erato on May 11, 2012, 12:08:33 AM
Yes I do and I agree.

Next on my list will be this Lassus recording by Herreweghe, which is fortunately still available: :) :)

[asin]B001BLP64C[/asin]

Judging from this review from Allmusic, it's must be worthwhile! :)
As Orlande Lassus' production in the motet genre is of such enormity, the numerous published collections that appeared before his sons pulled them all apart to construct the Magnum Opus Musicum of 1604 are extremely useful in grasping their chronology and the context in which Lassus himself may have considered these things. Lassus' established valedictory work is the seven-voice madrigal collection Lagrime di San Pietro, which appeared one year after he died in 1594. However, in 1594 itself he also published in Graz a six-voice collection entitled Cantiones sacrae that is more or less in the same vein as the Lagrime -- mournful, masterful, and as summary for what was for Lassus a long and productive career. The Lagrime have been recorded entirely a number of times, even once by the expert group featured here, Collegium Vocale Ghent led by Philippe Herreweghe. However, the Cantiones sacrae doesn't seem to have been recorded by anyone before, not even part of it, though that is not 100% surprising as so much of Lassus' work remains untouched by recording artists. Therefore, Herreweghe has the scoop; however, it is not just of an interesting sidelight to the repertoire that only needed attention and might have well been forgotten without his advocacy. Cantiones sacrae is a major work, featuring Lassus at his best and in his most fully developed motet idiom. The singing, too, is flexible and fluid, superbly balanced and resolutely in tune; a key ingredient for success here, as the morphology of Lassus' vocal textures can be so rapid and disorienting, keeping the pitch centered can be a major job in itself. There are many highlights; a marvelous descending passage in Qui timet Deum; a dense web of polyphony spreading out from a single pitch as in Deficiat in dolore vita mea; a rolling, free-wheeling sense of imitation in Quam bonus Israel Deus. For those in tune with Renaissance polyphony, Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale's Cantiones sacrae is going to be essential listening and should not be missed, and one would think this little-known work's propinquity to Lagrime di San Pietro -- the last, great blast of Renaissance vocal music -- would be enough of a motivator in itself to bring out the tribe Uncle Dave Lewis (Allmusic)

Another work by Lassus that intrigues me, is the motet collection Prophetiae Sibyllarum. Could anyone comment on the available options? :)





Q

chasmaniac

Prophetiae Sibyllarum: I have the Cantus Colln. It is very precise and quick (I'm given to understand), and the recording relatively dry. Other folks seem to find them cold, but I think this a typically fine effort from a wonderful group.The music itself is quite notey, more thrilling than atmospheric. Good stuff.
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