The Early Music Club (EMC)

[San Antone]

Joie Fine: Medieval Pious Trouvere Songs

[asin]B000FNO1CU[/asin]
SPOTIFY

Some info posted by an Amazon reviewer:  "Tracks 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11 & 15 are by anonymous composers, all either in Occitan (Old Provencal) or Old French.  Track 3 is by Aubertin d'Airaines. Tracks 4 & 9 by Thibaut De Champagne. 12 by Jaque de Cambrai. 13 by Adam de la Halle. 14 by Guillaume de Bethune."

[prémont]

Yes I think it's tremendous. I started a thread on amazon about Ars Subtilior which you might find interesting, I tried here but there were no contributions

I began listening to the Ars Subtilior CDs I own, but then you led my interests in other directions. At the moment I listen to Frescobaldi Canzoni, trying to produce some sensible recommendations.

[San Antone]

New York Polyphony - Times Go By Turns

[asin]B00D9DSXYU[/asin]

Masses by Byrd, Plummer and Tallis with movements by living composers interpolated.



"You may not think the world yearns for another Byrd 4-part Mass recording - that is, until you hear these four male voices sing it. Sure, you've heard the Tallis Scholars' reference version, but have you ever heard it performed by just four voices, ideally matched, of uniquely compatible timbre, combined into such a richly resonant sound? ... The sound on this SACD recording, from a Swedish church, is consistent with BIS's usual high standard. Recommended with the assurance that you will listen to this disc often.: --ClassicsToday.com, David Vernier, September 2013

[San Antone]

Is it strange that the Officium Defunctorum was not included in this otherwise excellent box set of Victoria's Sacred music?

[asin]B0050F6JQE[/asin]

Instead the earlier 4-part Requiem written in 1593 is included.



Here's a recording done by a group specializing in Spanish Renaissance, Musica Ficta (not to be confused with other ensembles using the same name), led by Raúl Mallavibarrena:

[asin]B000076H1F[/asin]

[Que]

Here's a recording done by a group specializing in Spanish Renaissance, Musica Ficta (not to be confused with other ensembles using the same name), led by Raúl Mallavibarrena:

[asin]B000076H1F[/asin]

I happened to have ordered that a while ago and just found it in my letter box! 

Q

[San Antone]

I happened to have ordered that a while ago and just found it in my letter box! 

Q

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.  I am listening on Spotify.  Aside from the reverberant acoustic, I am enjoying it.  Although it would not be how Victoria would have done it, I would love to hear a OVPP version.

[aligreto]

Gesualdo: Complete Sacred Music for Five Voices....

[San Antone]

I've been listening to this group this morning:

Trefoil is a trio long active in early music, with experience in such ensembles as Concert Royal, Les Arts Florissants, New York's Ensemble for Early Music, Pomerium, Clarion Music society, Piffaro, My Lord Chamberlain's Consort, and other groups. The trio debuted in New York and Philadelphia early in 2000 with a program of 14th-century French ars subtilior song. The Philadelphia Inquirer tagged the performers as "a hearty trio of medieval music specialists" and their work as "an intricate, enigmatic vocal art."

Their latest CD,  Fleur de Valeur: A Medieval Bouquet, features music by Guillaume Dufay, Gilles Binchois, and others. "Medieval songwriters invoked the imagery and natural magic of flowers in the service of ideal, feminine beauty. In many poems, the most revered flower was the Rose, or fleur de valeur. As a symbol of Mary the Virgin this flower stood for virtue, but also for the more sensual desires of the flesh, where it became an object of masculine desire."  (from concert notes)

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Anyone else familiar with them?

[San Antone]

New ensemble for me, but a good one.  Listening now.

[asin]B00187AG9E[/asin]

Le Codex de Saint Emmeram
Stimmwerck

Some info provided by Giordano Bruno from his review on Amazon:

It's the vocal artistry of Stimmwerck, however, that deserves the highest praise. Stimmwerck consists of four young Germans -- countertenor Franz Vitzthum, tenors Klaus Wenk and Gerhard Hölzle, and bass Marcus Schmidt, plus guests on some compositions -- all devoted to the performance of the repertoire of Middle Europe in the medieval and early renaissance period. Their goal is extreme authenticity and their musicological scholarship is impressive, but it's their magnificent SINGING that matters most. This is music that must be sung one-on-a-part to be heard at its most expressive. The strictures of tuning such music to the Pythagorian and later 'mean tone' intervals of the period must be mastered. The rhetorical freedom of Dufay's and Dunstable's polyphony, with each vocal line emerging independently, must be understood. Stimmwerck is not just a first-rate vocal ensemble; it's specifically a first-rate 15th C vocal ensemble, as authentic as our current historical knowledge can render. Founded in 2001, Stimmwerck has released five or six CDs, including a very fine performance of the music of Ludwig Senfl. Some of those CDs have already become rare; my advice is to grab them while you can. The market for such music is fragile. Nevertheless, several extraordinary ensembles have matured in recent years: Cinquecento, Camerata Trajectina, Capilla Flamenca, The Sound and the Fury, to name some of the best, most of them German or Dutch. The good news is that the 'venerated' Orlando Consort is no longer all alone in the field.

[Que]

New ensemble for me, but a good one.  Listening now.

[asin]B00187AG9E[/asin]

Le Codex de Saint Emmeram
Stimmwerck

Great ensemble,  great disc!

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,21492.msg820674/topicseen.html#msg820674

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,3732.msg568496/topicseen.html#msg568496

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,3732.msg579916/topicseen.html#msg579916

Q

[San Antone]

Great ensemble,  great disc!

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,21492.msg820674/topicseen.html#msg820674

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,3732.msg568496/topicseen.html#msg568496

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,3732.msg579916/topicseen.html#msg579916

Q

Thanks for the info on other recordings, and for the link to their website.  I knew I was on to something but also figured that it was old news for this thread.

[San Antone]

"Monteverdi's madrigals are a theatre of the senses: touches, glances, scents, the textures of fabrics, of lips and skin, the shining gold of hair, the deep blue of eyes, the sounds and vistas of nature, the coolness of water, the sun's warmth, the ecstatic agony of fire and ice. The second volume in I Fagiolini's Monteverdi conspectus traces this evolution from the early Mantuan a cappella madrigals that made his reputation to the late concerted madrigals of the 1630s written for the Viennese court – styles seemingly worlds apart, yet both forged by the same desire, to confront and master afresh in each new work the ever-present tension between mere art and real life."

At regular intervals (30:6; 32:1), Robert Hollingworth offers a well-filled disc programming a selection of Monteverdi's madrigals. His intellectual approach is rewarding beyond the usual presentation of complete published books, for he finds relations between the pieces that can only be brought out by astute selection. No one has ever linked the two settings of Zefiro torna on record, the one a Petrarch poem that Monteverdi included in Book 5, the other poem Rinuccini's homage to his renowned predecessor that was published in Monteverdi's setting in 1632. Except for this juxtaposition, these madrigals from Books 5 to 8 are sung in chronological order, but only after Hollingworth decided that this made better sense than his original conception. This places at the end a half-hour work that was published in 1638, although it was first performed (at the Gonzaga/Savoy wedding) 20 years earlier. Here Hollingworth chooses to edit the published version of Ballo delle ingrate to match the unrevised text that Rinuccini originally published (its references to the Mantua wedding were obliterated for a publication dedicated to the emperor). Hollingworth also points out that most performances of some of these madrigals fill in the continuo with harmonies matching the vocal lines. Hollingworth compares this to a woman in a print dress standing in a flower garden. Instead, he employs a chordal harmony that howls against the dissonant upper voices. This gives his interpretations a unique appeal, a worthy alternative to other versions.

Clearly, Hollingworth's programs are complementary to any collection of recorded complete books, whether the various ensembles that have recorded them are mixed or matched. His usual ensemble is augmented by a Norwegian string quintet. To be sure, this is an English approach to Monteverdi, in contrast to a group such as La Venexiana, but we have been making this comparison for many years now (recall the Consort of Musicke), and we can hear complementary qualities. Hollingworth brings a unique perspective to Monteverdi. -- Fanfare, J. F. Weber, Nov/Dec 2009

Listening now; haven't an opinion yet.

[San Antone]

All five of my recent Cinquecento purchases came in and I'm listening to them.  So far I've heard all of the Regnart, most of the Richafort and just started listening to the Willaert.  One thing I know for sure is that Cinquecento is the best ensemble for this period I have heard recently. 

There's at least one more I intend to purchase soon:

[asin]B0016J9P5A[/asin]

When I returned to Early Music, after not listening intently for over a decade or more, I naturally went back to the groups I had known from the past, Hilliard, Tallis, and others.  But now that I have been exposed to some of the groups like Sound/Fury, Blue Heron, Cinquecento, Stimmwerck, A Sei Voci, Orlando Consort (I feel like I'm forgetting some), I am now totally convinced of the superiority of their approach.

It has been a fascinating (short) journey so far and one I will continue with excitement.

[Moonfish]

Thoroughly enjoyed de Mauchaut's Ballades this evening in the able hands(/voices) of Ensemble Musica Nova.  These performances are serene in every aspect combining instruments and voices into mesmerizing patterns that permeate the mind. Great stuff! Giordano Bruno seemingly liked it quite a bit..
I am now considering their recording of Ockeghem's Missa Prolationum

[asin] B002P9KAE0[/asin]

[EigenUser]

I am now considering their recording of Ockeghem's Missa Prolationum

Their recording of the Ockeghem is my favorite version. I've heard a few others, but none as good as that.

[North Star]

Their recording of the Ockeghem is my favorite version. I've heard a few others, but none as good as that.

Not that there is much competition from the current generation ensembles.

[Que]

Thoroughly enjoyed de Mauchaut's Ballades this evening in the able hands(/voices) of Ensemble Musica Nova.  These performances are serene in every aspect combining instruments and voices into mesmerizing patterns that permeate the mind. Great stuff! Giordano Bruno seemingly liked it quite a bit..
I am now considering their recording of Ockeghem's Missa Prolationum

[asin] B002P9KAE0[/asin]

Ensemble Musica Nova is definitely on my shortlist as well.

Another great Machaut issue is their recording of the Motets:

[asin]B004V4GXY8[/asin]

Mind that this is a reissue of the same recordings issued on Zig Zag:



Q

[Moonfish]

Their recording of the Ockeghem is my favorite version. I've heard a few others, but none as good as that.

Tempting.....   

[San Antone]

Unless there some missing information that I am unaware, the group Amacord is an odd one.  They have recorded at least one exquisite CD of Gregorian masses from c. 1300:

[asin]B008ULQZY6[/asin]

But their recorded catalog also contains some dreadful crossover recordings.  Seems odd.  Nevertheless, this one is very good.

[Que]

When I returned to Early Music, after not listening intently for over a decade or more, I naturally went back to the groups I had known from the past, Hilliard, Tallis, and others.  But now that I have been exposed to some of the groups like Sound/Fury, Blue Heron, Cinquecento, Stimmwerck, A Sei Voci, Orlando Consort (I feel like I'm forgetting some), I am now totally convinced of the superiority of their approach.

It has been a fascinating (short) journey so far and one I will continue with excitement.

Great!  

I would like to add to that shortlist in any case (there are some more): Ensemble Musica Nova (Aeon), Diabolus in Musica (Alpha), Singer Pur (Oehms), Dufay Ensemble (Freiburg) (Ars Musici), Orlando di Lasso Ensemble (Hannover) (Thorofon), Labyrintho (Stradivarius), Ludus Modalis (Ramée), Concerto Vocale Amsterdam (Glossa, CPO)

Q