Codex Rohonczi

The Ensemble Codex Sanctissima was founded in November 2011 with the purpose of spreading the Medieval and Renaissance music to the most varied audiences, with repertoires primarily selected among the most venerable sources of Christian sacred music, from the liturgical traditions of pre-Gregorian chant dating back to the sixth century, through the earliest forms of polyphony recorded in manuscripts of the ninth and tenth centuries, the works of the School of Notre-Dame and its correlates, the works of the troubadours and trouvères, the periods known as Ars Antiqua and Ars Nova, until the Renaissance of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In this project we aim to also include some Oriental music, as is the case of an Armenian prayer in this first album.

The Torino Ms J.II.9 codex, kept in the National University Library of Turin, is a sumptuous manuscript consisting of 159 sheets, each measuring 377x270 mm. We may safely assume that the person responsible for putting together the musical works of this codex was a Frenchman resident at the Court of the Lusignan family long enough for the codex to be completed; the period in question must have been sometime between 1413 and 1430 CE.

Harmonic Divergence is the perfect companion piece to Steven Wilson’s highly acclaimed 2023 album The Harmony Codex. On this very limited nine track release, music from the original album has been remixed and reimagined by Wilson, alongside longtime bandmates/collaborators and like-minded bands and producers. The result is a warped mirror image of the original, where oblique electronics are replaced by spidery gothic guitar riffs and cyclical piano tracks are mutated and transformed for the dance floor.