The Early Music Club (EMC)

[North Star]

It's been mentioned before, but the requiem on this disc is stunning.

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Have you heard Cinquecento's OOVP recording? I only know that one, but it is exquisite.

[Que]

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Back to this one more time. Though a very enjoyable disc, with perfectly deliverance of the music by Van Nevel and his ensemble, I am not immediately wowed. In the timeframe between the towering geniusses of Lassus and Schütz there seem to be more notables, such as Hans Leo Hassler and Michael Praetorius. Demantius is obviously a very able but quite conservative composer. It is all pretty low key. Perhaps there is a different side to his art an do I need to hear more?

Q

Gramophone review:

Well-prepared and spontaneous performances of religious music by Demantius, an original voice that is rarely heard.

Christophorus Demantius was born and died in exactly the same years as Monteverdi, but there the similarities stop. A Bohemian craftsman who spent most of his professional life in Freiberg in Saxony, he is revealed in this disc of Whitsun Vespers to be a confident individualist, combining the polyphonic fluency of the great 16th-century masters with the strong harmonic kernel derived from the clear phrasing of the early German Lied.

The Huelgas Ensemble are about as convincing advocates of this sonorous repertoire as one could imagine, supported as they are by Paul van Nevel's luminous textural palette — a palette varied by such pleasing instrumental contributions. His ear for detail and the sense of meticulous preparation is immediately noticeable, though he also lets his singers sail into the intensely worked flourishes of the hymn, Veni Creator, with radiant abandon. Previously, we see Demantius — `an inconsiderate man and a turbulent genius', as one contemporary put it — conduct an impressive journey of church modes, and their variants, in 28 different Psalm verses. It makes for a slightly exhausting voyage, despite the imaginative way the composer traverses the rigid, alternating sections with rich five- and six-part sonority in the best of German traditions.

The solo singing is altogether less memorable than the fragrant coloration (which is central to van Nevel's approach) of the integral ensemble. The vespers, which were published in Nuremberg in 1602, also contain a variable Magnificat and an all-too-short, brilliant Benedicamus Domino a 6, confirming Demantius's natural grasp of decorated homophony. This is music of great dignity and an unassailable momentum. The disc ends with two extended chorale settings from Threnodiae, an extensive litany for the dead, from 1620; a touching melodic intimacy abounds, with correspondingly sensitive instrumental additions.

One feels a bit short-changed by just 47 minutes of music, but only because the Huelgas Ensemble bring a distinctive vitality to their music-making which calls for at least an hour. Demantius was prolific enough!

-- Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, Gramophone [12/2000]

[Drasko]

Since this thread seems to bit slow these days I'll cut and paste short exchange between Mandryka and me on Antoine Busnois, from waylt.

Antoine Busnois - Missa L'homme arme

Probably the earliest of the masses based on eponymous chanson, and for me still the best. Superb performance as well. Some might not like the ensemble's attempt at pronouncing Latin closest possible to medieval French manner.

Antoine Busnois - Missa L'homme arme

I just listened to that too. I have to say that I couldn't stop myself thinjing that this is some of the most interesting music I've ever heard. It was in the credo that I started to think that.

There is a great moment toward the end of Credo when all of a sudden everything gets very frantic. The moment where I went 'wow!' is in Gloria, that amazing upward bass surge on deprecationem nostram. It was totally the moment of ecstatic truth for me (to quote Werner Herzog). The whole piece is extraordinary, the expressiveness of it, almost flamboyance when compared to lets say Dufay, who is stylistically the closest, is what completely took me back in the beginning. I've been listening to it a lot last couple of months.

[Que]

Antoine Busnois - Missa L'homme arme

Probably the earliest of the masses based on eponymous chanson, and for me still the best. Superb performance as well. Some might not like the ensemble's attempt at pronouncing Latin closest possible to medieval French manner.

I've steered away from British ensembles to avoid a "Englis cathedral style" or bias in the choral singing, which is IMO not suited for the Franco-Flemish School, smooth and in many cases with parts of the music transposed upwards. Despite the abundance of avaible recordings. Perhaps this is not in all cases justified. How does the Binchois Consort in that respect?

Q

[Drasko]

I've steered away from British ensembles to avoid a "Englis cathedral style" or bias in the choral singing, which is IMO not suited for the Franco-Flemish School, smooth and in many cases with parts of the music transposed upwards. Despite the abundance of avaible recordings. Perhaps this is not in all cases justified. How does the Binchois Consort in that respect?

Q

Nowhere near cathedral style, it's all male, two per part ensemble. Hear for yourself, here's Gloria (passage I was referring to earlier is at 3:50-4:00)

http://www.youtube.com/v/zntX1k7bCAA 

[HIPster]

Enjoying this new purchase:
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From amazon:

Editorial Reviews
Filia Sion is the first ECM New Series disc devoted entirely to the Estonian vocal group Vox Clamantis. From the beginning of its history, Vox Clamantis has focussed on Gregorian chant as the foundation of European music, but has also maintained strong connections to contemporary composers including Arvo Pärt, Helena Tulve and Erkki-Sven Tüür (members of the ensemble previously appeared on Tüür s Oxymoron album, singing his composition Salve Regina ). Their interpretation of medieval music is never purely historical. While always remaining true to the spirit of this repertoire, the approach to the work and the selection of pieces is contemporary, with sound and texture and the blending of voices as a focus.

As leader Jaan-Eik Tulve explains, Gregorian chant is monophonic music which remarkably emphasizes the blend of voices. Working on sound and colour of voices has been one of the constant priorities of our ensemble. This emphasis is the thread that connects its repertoire through the centuries: I started with Gregorian chant and later moved on to the contemporary music for multiple reasons: firstly, my personal interest in certain contemporary music that draws attention to the sound and is centred on the horizontal musical phrase and melody in its deeper sense. On the other hand, our ensemble has been lucky and several Estonian composers have composed pieces for us, as they have appreciated our approach to the sound, phrase and to the entire musical expression...

On the present album, drawing upon the rich tradition in music history on the theme of Filia Sion , Vox Clamantis sings medieval music from Gregorian chant to works by Perotin, Hildegard von Bingen and Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz. In the Old Testament, Filia Sion the Daughter of Zion refers to both the holy city of Jerusalem and the Jewish people who built the Temple on Mount Zion. In medieval Christian tradition, Holy Mary became the incarnation of the Daughter of Zion as the personification of the church.

Jaan-Eik Tulve: The repertoire for the CD emerged naturally from our concert activity. We are specially focussing on the theme of Virgin Mary, who is for me personally a very important figure, who is equally honoured in medieval music. We have had different collaborations with various musicians from a number of traditions. The last piece on the CD Ma Navu derives from a program around Jewish traditional music. Most of our arrangements are born in the rehearsals while improvising. For instance, when a couple of our singers started to explore overtone-singing, we tried to incorporate it into our repertoire and the pedal-notes in Perotin, on this recording, seemed for us an appropriate use.

From the liner notes by Klára Jirsová: The Gospels do not reveal all of Mary s feelings to us; the mystery of the Incarnation is only briefly presented. Relying on a few phrases and returning endlessly to the sacred words and setting them in different contexts, the musical tradition shows their inexhaustible richness. Medieval compositions meditate on the mystery of the Incarnation in all its aspects. They display different shades of joy: explosive, superabundant joy which wells up like a source, as well as the shimmer of peaceful, meditative wonder before the miracle never seen, the joy never known .

Filia Sion was recorded in the Dome Church of St Nicholas, Haapsalu, with Helena Tulve as recording supervisor.

[DaveF]

Anyone read this? Care to comment on how accessible it is to someone with little formal training in musical analysis?

There's a fairly generous preview on Google Books.  Lots of solid historical information (and speculation) but not much musical analysis at all that I could see - and what there is seems to be related to the historical situation.

DF

[Mandryka]

There's a fairly generous preview on Google Books.  Lots of solid historical information (and speculation) but not much musical analysis at all that I could see - and what there is seems to be related to the historical situation.

DF

Thanks. All that stuff about mysticism looks quite interesting. I've never been to Reims.

[The new erato]

Thanks. All that stuff about mysticism looks quite interesting. I've never been to Reims.

As a Champagne nut I've been there twice, but never knew Machaut worked there.

[DaveF]

It's been a bit quiet here recently, so I thought I'd mention how much I'm enjoying

[asin]B006OZN7PK[/asin] and [asin]B009TBNWNI[/asin]

I'd seen a few so-so reviews and so hung back, but needn't have.  Belder may not be first choice for Byrd - I think Hogwood or Moroney will remain hard to beat - but it's very civilized and thoughtful playing.  For many of the other pieces he's the only option, and none of it disappoints and is often delightful.  Looking forward to more volumes.

DF

[Florestan]

Belder may not be first choice for Byrd - I think Hogwood or Moroney will remain hard to beat

Glenn Gould did a very good job, too.

(runs away as fast as can)

- but it's very civilized and thoughtful playing.  For many of the other pieces he's the only option, and none of it disappoints and is often delightful. 

Nice.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Glenn Gould did a very good job, too.

(runs away as fast as can)

No need to run - Gould's "Consort of Musicke" is one of my favorite keyboard albums.

[Florestan]

No need to run - Gould's "Consort of Musicke" is one of my favorite keyboard albums.

[Que]

I thought Id dedicate this weekend to Elizabethan music - I think this era has some really beautiful music.
Today it was some William Byrd and tomorrow maybe more or selections from the John Dowland box.
The pictures below represent just about my entire Elizabethan collection (theres not much so I will post them all:




Im always looking for recommendations so if anyone knows a recording(s) from this era they think I might like I am all ears
Edit: all the stuff I posted may not be strictly Elizabethan but I hope it will give other members an idea of the type of music I mean

I'm not so well advanced into the English Renaissance music to give you an elaborate answer, but I'm sure others will!

The set by Davitt Moroney of the complete Byrd keyboardworks (Hyperion) seems a good addition. I also see no Thomas Tallis - though not his whole choral œuvre is essential listening, a fair portion of it is. I derived much pleasure from the set pictured (originally recorded by Signum)

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Q

[Wakefield]

I'm not so well advanced into the English Renaissance music to give you an elaborate answer, but I'm sure others will!

Q

Me neither, but I'm reckless enough to do it anyway. 

I have recommended these two wonderful disks several times; but, apparently, I haven't had any success:

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[Mookalafalas]

Very quiet over here
  I just want to join this thread and say hi.  I am presently reading John Gardiner's book on Bach, and listening to lots from various early music boxes from Harmonia Mundi, Vivarte, Archiv, and Erato.  I've always liked Bach, but am presently enjoying earlier stuff much more, especially polyphonic vocal music and early small group ensemble music by people like Muffat and Biber (just to randomly select a couple of names from the last CD I listened to).  It's amazing that virtually every disc I randomly play I end up really liking, and am moved by its thoughtfulness and integrity.  Odd that when I sample more recent music my feelings are often almost diametrically opposite...

[Ken B]

Very quiet over here
  I just want to join this thread and say hi.  I am presently reading John Gardiner's book on Bach, and listening to lots from various early music boxes from Harmonia Mundi, Vivarte, Archiv, and Erato.  I've always liked Bach, but am presently enjoying earlier stuff much more, especially polyphonic vocal music and early small group ensemble music by people like Muffat and Biber (just to randomly select a couple of names from the last CD I listened to).  It's amazing that virtually every disc I randomly play I end up really liking, and am moved by its thoughtfulness and integrity.  Odd that when I sample more recent music my feelings are often almost diametrically opposite...

We'll get you eventually Baklavaboy. Dufay and Muffat are gateway drugs, but Josquin and Schutz are pure crack.

[Mookalafalas]

We'll get you eventually Baklavaboy. Dufay and Muffat are gateway drugs, but Josquin and Schutz are pure crack.

You're everywhere, Ken
Josquin I've played and liked, but Schutz is just a name...

[kishnevi]

You're everywhere, Ken
Josquin I've played and liked, but Schutz is just a name...

Allow me to make the formal introduction. 

Herr Schutz, may I introduce Baklavaboy?
Baklavaboy, may I introduce Herr Schutz?
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Mind you, at 19 CDs that Brilliant box is far from complete.

[Ken B]

You're everywhere, Ken

I work for the NSA.