Album of the Evening

[christopher3393]

Learn from it? It'll probably a lot less then you would expect... But here goes:

 

Since my home period is baroque, I'm always looking at everything else from that perceptive. The comment on the rhythm is just that they sound quite foreign to me. And on top of that, I have the impression that the different threads in the polyphony are often in different meter. So the pulse of the music is very strange. (Wasn't focusing too much on that, so I might well be wrong there).

 

On the harmony side, the first thing that struck me was the foreign sounding cadences. With baroque stuff, when you're at the last bit of a phrase, it's usually very easy to tell where it's going. Not the case here for me.

 

As for the comment on dissonance, it's just that there are many places where the various parts do not sound like they belong together. If you listen to Bach's Choral works, the parts almost always blend well together. Dissonance usually causes tension and the desire to have it resolved and get back to a peaceful state. Heinrich Schütz is another composer that used it quite a bit. In skillful hands, it's a very effective dramatic device. But when not handled properly, it can make a big mess. In this case though, it fits very well with the music.

That's my very amateurish analysis...

 

Well, I found it informative! And from the little I know, I think you are spot on.

[christopher3393]

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Arvo Part - Alina

 

At home with flu, Olympics over for the day, I thought... Why not fall asleep to this superb piece of minimalism.

 

Good choice. Get well soon!

[christopher3393]

Notker Balbulus

Ordo Virtutum / Morent

 

 

Notker Balbulus Ordo Virtutum / Morent

 

"Gregorian chant is generally regarded as an anonymous body of liturgical music, the most famous name disproving this being Hildegard of Bingen. Yet Thomas F. Kelly compiled a long list of individuals who have been credited as composers of chant, and Christopher Page published a shorter list in his recent book. Only a few of the names they listed have ever appeared on records, and seldom as prominently as Notker Balbulus (c.840–912) is displayed on the cover of this new disc. Two of these sequences were credited to him on a Swiss LP made at Einsiedeln in 1964, and he is mentioned occasionally on other discs. Notker the Stammerer (shades of Academy Award movies!) was a monk of St. Gall, the influential Swiss monastery (secularized in 1798, the abbey church is now a cathedral). Its library is largely intact, the medieval manuscripts now being digitized and made available to scholars on the Web (more than 400 have been done so far). His obituary credits him with composing sequences, and he compiled a group of them as Liber hymnorum . His authorship of tropes is more problematic, for no collection survives, and the tropes heard here may come from him or another monk of his circle.

 

Stefan Johannes Morent made another chant record for Christophorus recently ( Fanfare 33:4). This new disc is even better for the attention it focuses on one of the most prominent names of the high Middle Ages. It includes five sequences and four introit tropes. There are also two alleluia verses related to sequences. To represent alleluia melodies that are found textless in the margins of St. Gall manuscripts, three of them are played here instrumentally. The oddest track is the Ludwigslied , an Old High German song for the West Frankish King Louis III, who won a victory over the Normans at Saucourt in 881, the year before he died at the age of 18. The text has been widely known, but the melody heard here is a reconstruction. While the event falls within Notker’s lifetime, the song seems to fit poorly in this program. On the whole, this is a well-considered and well-focused program of chant that specialists will be grateful for."

 

FANFARE: J. F. Weber

[christopher3393]

 

Titi Robin | Titi Robin – Télécharger et écouter l'album

[christopher3393]

 

Also check out:

 

J.S. Bach: Goldberg Variations [2001 Recording] - András Schiff | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic

 

Schiff's Goldberg Variations are also available on MOG.

[christopher3393]

[christopher3393]

Parthenia - Byrd, Bull, Gibbons / Catalina Vicens Harpsichord and other period instruments, Carpe Diem, 24/96 download

 

 

Catalina Vicens: Parthenia - Buy the CD, MP3 & FLAC here

 

"PARTHENIA is a collection of pieces for harpsichord and virginal composed by the three famous composers Byrd, Bull and Gibbons, printed in London in 1613 and dedicated to the marriage of Maria Stuart and King Frederick V.

The Chilean harpsichordist Catalina Vicens celebrates the 400-year anniversary of this unique edition of English renaissance keyboard music on her debut album. To make this already diverse collection even more colorful, she uses not less than six different instruments, 3 of which are 17th c. originals. Enjoy this delicate bouquet of early keyboard pieces played on virginals, harpsichords, spinettino and Muselaar, just as the royal couple may have enjoyed it for relaxation and amusement in good company."

[christopher3393]

Josquin Desprez: Messes de L'homme armé

A Sei Voci, Bernard Fabre-Garrus

 

 

Thanks for this. Care to share your opinion on the composition/performance/ recording?

 

p.s.: I love how Google translates Qobuz' listing of the second mass as "Missa super skilled armed musical voces"

[christopher3393]

Sure. The composition seems to be made up of long sections sections that change and evolves endlessly, often with surprising bits and pieces thrown in. Phrases in the difference voices don't begin and end together so these is a sense of the composition going on and on without break. So we have this very "organic" ebb and flow effect.

 

As for the performance, there are quite a number of sublime moments. But there are also places that feel rather messy, mostly in very complex polyphonic passages. While searching for a cover photo to post here yesterday, I came across this review at amazon.com:

 

 

 

So the Tallis Scholar version might be worth looking into.

 

Thanks. I have compared the 2 and they are quite different to my ears. In the words of one critic: "The issue for many listeners in making a choice of recordings of these works will be whether to opt for those interpretations which emphasise the architecture, the overall impression and shape of the music; or ones which concentrate on particularities, on the beauty of the moment.This engaged yet solid approach taken by A Sei Voci and their ancillary forces works well: it veers towards the latter..."

 

Read more: Desprez a sei voce E8906 [MS]: Classical CD Reviews - February 2007 MusicWeb-International

[christopher3393]

Kassia

Christophorus 77308

Byzantine hymns of the first female composer of the Occident

VocaMe

 

 

A beautiful recording of some very early hymns

 

 

 

Review: http://www.classical.net/music/recs/reviews/c/chr77308a.php

[christopher3393]

This 2013 recording is a gem both musically and sonically:

 

Beethoven String Quartets played by the Hagen Quartett

 

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Highly recommended.

 

Thanks! I'm curious about how you think these compare with their Belcea Quartet equivalents. Also want to provide a link to the hi-res download on Qobuz and wonder how it might compare to the cd ( I see the tell-tale "AutoRip" in the thumbnail): Ludwig van Beethoven : String Quartets Op. 18/3, 18/5 and Op. 135 | Ludwig van Beethoven par Hagen Quartett – Télécharger et écouter l'album

 

Thanks in adavance and, as always, at your leisure.

[christopher3393]

The Devil's Trill Palladians

 

 

Violin sonatas by Giuseppe Tartini and Francesco Maria Veracini, including Tartini's Devil's Trill. Also includes two very nice short pieces: Sonata in E minor, with viola da gamba accompaniment, and Grave in D minor for viola da gamba.

 

Something about this recording has drawn me back many times. Really don't know what it is. Timbre is part of it I think.

[christopher3393]

Perfect music for the season and a nice 3h drive tonight:

 

Bach: Matthäuspassion - René Jacobs

 

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Happy that the new car I got finally has the hifi speakers instead of the regular system.

 

Thumbs up to you!

[christopher3393]

 

Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae Rome 1585

La Colombina (Artist), Schola Antiqua (Artist), Tomás Luis de Victoria (Composer)

 

Redbook download: Presto Classical - Victoria: Officium Hebdomadae Sanctae (Office for Holy Week) - Glossa: GCD9220023

 

This is close to a complete liturgical performance, so it runs 3 hours, but it is a beautiful experience overall. As one reviewer put it: " ...I'm skeptical of all recordings of large choirs. But this time the engineers, the acoustics of the church, and the singers have combined to render grandeur audible, to recreate the spacious wonder of the great sacred choruses of 16th C Spain in its Golden Age."

[christopher3393]

Bach: Works for Lute Harpsichord Robert Hill

 

 

There is substantial overlap between J.S.Bach's works for lute and lute-harpsichord. However, the sound of the latter is much more substantial and can make a much more powerful statement in sweeping phrases, especially those in minor key. So I personally tend to prefer the lute-harpsichord version. On the SQ side, this CD has been on my reference list for a long time. It has PRAT, and it has completely believable timbre across the whole range from bass to trebble. Amazing.

 

Thanks. Had never heard or heard of this instrument before. Some of the reproductions are beauties:

 

The LUTE-HARPSICHORD: A Forgotten Instrument

[christopher3393]

Curious about what those of you who are better versed on Vivaldi think of this. I just listened to it and am really...?

 

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Sounds like Vivaldi meets Philip Glass to me. Interesting, but Crisnee's take rings true for me.

[christopher3393]

 

The sweet look and the loving manner - CDA66625 - Hyperion Records - MP3 and Lossless downloads

 

I hear this as early folk music of a sort. This particular recording features lyrics written by medieval women.

[christopher3393]

Matteis the Elder: False Consonances of Melancholy, Ayres for the violin

Gli Incogniti, Amandine Beyer

 

 

Interesting, thanks!

 

Qui était Matteis ?

[christopher3393]

Bach Re-invented / Simone Dinnerstein, Kristjian Jarvi, Absolut Ensemble

 

 

An interesting experiment. Very eclectic. There are passages that remind me of Frank Zappa's orchestral work.

 

[christopher3393]

Estampies & Danses Royales / Savall, Hespèrion Xxi

 

 

A Dance In The Garden Of Mirth / The Dufay Collective

 

 

Redbook downloads of two fine performances and recordings of reconstructions of late medieval dance music

[christopher3393]

Style Brisé Toyohiko Satoh

 

 

Lute works in Style Brisé by Ennemond Gaultier, Denis Gaultier and others. On the sound quality side, a little bit of background hiss between tracks. Likely an rather old analog recording. Very natural sound of the lute and surrounding space though.

 

+1 Love the tone Satoh gets out of his lutes.

 

Jordi Savall / Pedro Estevan ‎– La Lira D'Espéria: La Vièle Médiévale (The Medieval Fiddle)

Savall plays bowed lire, rebec and fiddles (vielles), Estevan tasteful background percussion, all period instrument reproductions. The music is simple, so the timbres really stand out.

 

[christopher3393]

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Music with bagpipes that I actually like!!

 

HaHa! Ain't that the truth! Thanks.

[christopher3393]

In Memoriam Christopher Hogwood (Sept 10, 1941 – 24 Sept 24, 2014)

 

Handel: Concerti Grossi, Op. 6

Handel & Haydn Society, Christopher Hogwood

 

+1

[christopher3393]

Having a first listen to this new release: From the Imperial Court: Music for the House of Hapsburg par Stile Antico*– Télécharger et écouter l'album

 

 

[christopher3393]

Another first listen to another new release:

LA LIRA D'ESPERIA II. GALICIA

Alfonso X o sábio - anônimos. Danças, cantigas & cantos da terra

Jordi Savall Pedro Estevan

 

Should be available for download soon. Purchased directly from Alia Vox: Alia Vox: La Lira d'Esperia II. Galicia CATALOGUE / disc