My Essential Classical Albums.

[christopher3393]

sphinxsix, do you have any Hildegard von Bingen in your collection?

[christopher3393]

On 4/22/2017 at 4:34 PM, sphinxsix said:

On 4/22/2017 at 0:44 PM, christopher3393 said:

sphinxsix, do you have any Hildegard von Bingen in your collection?

I have 2: Vox cosmica - Hirundo Maris, Arianna Savall 24-96 and The Origin of Fire, Music and Visions - Anonymous 4 SACD. I'm not that much into early music but I heard her choral composition performed live in a local church years ago and I liked it. Any suggestions of her other recordings?

 

You're probably set then. If I were to choose one Hildegard recording myself it would be:

Hildegard von Bingen - Canticles Of Ecstasy

Sequentia

download: http://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/hildegard-von-bingen-canticles-of-ecstasy-sequentia/0054727732027

info: http://www.sonusantiqva.org/i/S/Sequentia/1993HildegardCanticlesEcstasy.html

 

(Might be worth noting that your Vox Cosmica album and the Sequentia album have 2 substantial tracks in common: Ave Maria, O auctrix vite and O tu suavissima virga. The comparison was interesting and revealing for me. )

 

 

 

[christopher3393]

On 4/24/2017 at 4:38 PM, sphinxsix said:

Maybe a good idea to start with would be to ask you guys about earlier - Medieval and Renaissance -

 

5 hours ago, accwai said:

No taker at all. Sigh.

Daunting task, which accwai addressed well. I'm far from an expert, but listen to a lot of this music. I don't have favorites, but am happy to gradually make a few recommendations.

 

Guillaume de Machaut is generally considered  the single most "important" composer of the middle ages and his Messe de Notre Dame his most famous work. But which recording? I think I have 4 favorites that are all different, so I'll do some fresh listening and post later.

[christopher3393]

6 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

17 hours ago, christopher3393 said:

Messe de Notre Dame

Listening to this is like being transprted back in time.. I like purity and clarity of this composition. Waiting for recommendation of a particular recording (patiently).

Yes! Which performance are you listening to? I'm working on it now.

 

As to essentials, perhaps one of the best ways to wade into Machaut's Mass and beyond is through a repackaging of the fine performance of the Messe that accwai linked:

 

Guillaume de Machaut: Sacred and Secular Music; Messe de Nostre Dame

Ensemble Gilles Binchois / Dominique Vellard

 

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=570906

 

3 discs, accessible, mellifluous performances, not the final word, good sound quality but nothing spectacular. recorded around 1990. Here's a more recent performance of the Messe by this ensemble (with some personnel changes):

 

 

[christopher3393]

6 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

@christopher3393 I picked up (quite accidentally) Oxford Camerata performance last night.

This is an accessible performance, maybe a bit "polite", with ok sq. I'll be mentioning other performances soon. Thanks for your patience. Will also recommend chant, Gergorian plainchant as well as other forms.

[christopher3393]

Great link on Machaut's Mass that includes mini-reviews of most of the best recordings: https://fdleone.com/2015/11/20/machauts-messe-de-notre-dame-an-overview/

I disagree with the reviewer on one recording: 

In Memoriam – Guillaume de Machaut: Messe Notre Dame

Ensemble Musica Nova – Lucien Kandel, dir.

http://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/in-memoriam-guillaume-de-machaut-messe-notre-dame-philippe-de-vitry-codex-robertsbridge/3760058360934

This, along with their 2 other Machaut albums are on a short list of favorites!

 

 

[christopher3393]

Finally, https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/7577-album-of-the-evening/?do=findComment&comment=545978

 

[christopher3393]

To start off Gregorian chant recommendations, here is an old standard and a great sampler by one of the great chant directors and one of his choirs:

Gregorian Chant

Konrad Ruhland, Choralschola of the Niederaltaicher Scholaren

https://www.amazon.com/Gregorian-Chant-Konrad-Ruhland/dp/B00000295L/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1493328160&sr=1-1&keywords=Gregorian+Chant+Konrad+Ruhland%2C+Choralschola+of+the+Niederaltaicher+Scholaren

 

http://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/gregorian-chant-konrad-ruhland-choralschola-of-the-niederaltaicher-scholaren/0074645389929

 

[christopher3393]

More Gregorian chant favorites:

Filia Sion

Vox Clamantis / Jaan-Eik Tulve

 

 

Reviews: http://www.allmusic.com/album/filia-sion-mw0002357802

http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=773508

 

24/44.1 download: http://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/filia-sion-vox-clamantis/0002894811388

 

 

Some of the tracks are not Gregorian, but the whole project is just excellent!

[christopher3393]

59 minutes ago, sphinxsix said:

Yes it is. IMO these overtones sound great. I understand that harmonic singing might not be known in Europe in the Middle Ages but I don't mind it at all in this musical conext.

Yes, I agree!

Speaking of Perotin (as if on cue):

Perotin 

The Hilliard Ensemble

 

http://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/perotin-the-hilliard-ensemble/0004228377512

 

Some of the best early polyphony from the Notre Dame school in Paris circa 1200, an artful performance and fine recording.

 

 

[christopher3393]

I would want to have an album or 2 from each of these ensembles in an "essential" selection based on performances

1. Marcel Peres and Ensemble Organum
2. Anonymous 4 or Trio Mediaeval
3. Jordi Savall and Hesperion XX/XXI
4. Christopher Page and Gothic Voices
5. Sequentia

There may be others, but I'll stick with this for now.

 Marcel Peres is one of the most important contributors to Medieval Chant in our time. I'm going to make an odd choice for Marcel Peres. He has dedicated his life to the belief that medieval chant sounded more Byzantine/Arabic, and sounded this way as communicated through the Mediterranean world, particularly through Corsica:

Chant Corse: Manuscrits Franciscains

Peres / Ensemble Organum

 

This is based on manuscripts from the 17th and 18th century, but Peres is convinced that somehting like this style goes back to the Dark Ages and was mostly handed down aurally. So, in a way, this album epitomizes hos signature sound.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Harmonia%2BMundi/HMA1951495

 

 

 

[christopher3393]

Two Trio Mediaeval albums. Half of the tracks on both of these are actually modern compositions with strong medieval influence.

 

Stella Maris

Trio Mediaeval

includes 2 Perotin pieces

 

 

http://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/stella-maris-trio-mediaeval/0002894763021

 

 

A Worcester Ladymass

Trio Mediaeval

 

http://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/a-worcester-ladymass-trio-mediaeval/0002894764215

 

 

[christopher3393]

On 5/2/2017 at 7:23 AM, accwai said:

Splendour of Al-Andalus Calamus

 

I'd like to recommend Begona Olavide's other work as well: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Begoña_Olavide

Albums link: https://www.begonaolavide.com/albumes/  Most can be purchased as downloads from the site.

There are tracks on these albims that I would consider classic ---well known, still performed with some frequency--- not sure about "essential".

 

Al-Son

Mudejar, Begoña Olavide

 

 

http://www.qobuz.com/fr-fr/album/al-son-mudejar-begona-olavide/0884385443986

 

Touches in time

Begoña Olavide

 

 

 

 

[christopher3393]

2 hours ago, sphinxsix said:

BTW I haven't decided yet which version of Machaut's mass to choose. Five performances I checked out in detail are so different one from another.. I didn't know the early music interpretation formula is so 'open'.

 

Wow. That's some serious listening! As I understand it, there is still much about 14th century performance practice that we just don't know and that still is open to debate and different approaches. Just to make things a little more complicated, here's another performance:

 

Azahar

La Tempête, Simon-Pierre Bestion

 

 

https://www.outhere-music.com/en/albums/azahar-alpha-261

 

This one's growing on me slowly. The juxtaposition with Stravinsky's Mass, which was influenced by Machaut, is interesting as well. It's also available in hi-res.

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/r/Alpha/ALPHA261

 

 

[christopher3393]

 

 

[christopher3393]

Is anyone familiar with Catalina Vicens 2 solo harpsichord recordings? I think they are recorded a bit differently than usual. I find them easier on my ears than many others.

 

http://www.carpediem-records.de/en/il-cembalo-di-partenope

 

 

[christopher3393]

13 hours ago, accwai said:

 

I have Il Cembalo di Partenope now. The booklet doesn't mention anything special about recording techniques. It's the instrument itself perhaps. I'll take a closer listen when I have a chance. Going through Handel's Solomon right now, so early next week perhaps.

 

Have you compared it with Alina Rotaru's Froberger or Sweelinck? They're on the same record label but done with much more robust instrument.

 

A couple of comments by Vicens on her earlier recording, Parthenia:

Quote

The Wish:

When I knew that I was going to record in this vast range of instruments, I had a strong wish: I wanted to have the listener experiencing the instrument at its best; I wanted to have them in the privileged position, that us performers, are lucky to have. Jonas Niederstadt, sound engineer and head of Carpe Diem Records shared this view and had the skill to capture the acoustical experience.

The space:

 Achieving a good recording sound and still being true to the instruments’ qualities was not all that easy. We were using instrument of a public collection, as in many museum, instruments can not be taken out of their space. The rooms at the Castle of Bad Krozingen are quite small and have low ceilings: a nightmare for most sound engineers! Today, most harpsichord recordings are recorded in churches or big halls where the acoustic is rich and forgiving. Nevertheless, solo harpsichord (and more so virginal music) was not meant to be played at church, but rather in a small castle. Like the one we were to record in the small southern German town. So what we saw initially as technical limitations could be used to our advantage: in Parthenia we “had” to capture that authentic intimacy of these original instruments and of the music by these outstanding late-Renaissance composers.

 

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/ab8099_96e5ae5532884126a1e7d3d2bc390d7f.pdf

 

sorry for OT

[christopher3393]

20 hours ago, semente said:

 

I prefer Liszt's piano works to his orchestral but the Eine Faust-Symphonie is quite attractive:

 

 

1 hour ago, sphinxsix said:

Yes, it is! Your favorite performances, guys.?

 

I like this one:

 

Liszt:  Symphonic Poems Vol.2

Gianandrea Noseda, BBC Philharmonic

 

[christopher3393]

Edgard Varèse : The Complete Works

Riccardo Chailly / ASKO Ensemble / Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

 

One of Frank Zappa's favorite composers.  

[christopher3393]

I thought G was for Gershwin 

 

[christopher3393]

Stockhausen? Didn't know that.

 

I'll add Peteris Vasks, for example:

[christopher3393]

Erics Esenvalds, for example:

 

 

Ola Gjeilo:

 

 

James MacMillan; Eric Whitacre

[christopher3393]

14 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

You may try Angel of Light or Cantus Arcticus. There is a recording of both conducted by Vänskä on BIS.

 

Fine suggestion. I'm fond of his work generally. Another recommendation:

 

 

 

 

 

[christopher3393]

12 hours ago, Bob Stern said:

Jordi Savall has done many years of research on relationships between European and Middle Eastern early music and has published many recordings, often packaged with an elaborate hard-cover book discussing his findings.

 

https://www.alia-vox.com

 

2 in particular come to mind:

 

 

[christopher3393]

As far as musical orientalism (romantic fantasies of the East), I immediately think of Rimsky-Korsakov, particularly Scheherazade and Antar -- based on Arabian Nights stories. Other Rimsky-Korsakov draws on eastern European and Russian folk music and stories.