Dufay

La Reverdie - Knights, Maids and Miracles: The Spring of Middle Ages (2016) {5CD Arcana Official Digital Download}
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© 2016 Arcana / Outhere Music | A 399
Classical / Medieval / Choral / Chamber Music / Vocal Music

In August 1986 two pairs of young sisters (Claudia and Livia Caffagni, Elisabetta and Ella de Mircovich) founded the ensemble La Reverdie. The name, derived from a poetic genre that celebrates the return of Spring, reveals perhaps the principal trait of a group that, for 30 years now, has captivated audiences and critics alike for the variety in its approach to the vast and varied musical repertoire of Middle Ages and early Renaissance. To mark this anniversary, Arcana brings together in a single 5-CD box-set all the themed projects that, over the years, La Reverdie has devoted to various aspects of Medieval culture.

Agricola was already considered one of the 'old masters' soon after his death in 1506. His works were approached with veneration and, already in the early 16th century, regarded as examples of good and demanding counterpoint. As a member of the first generation of genuinely instrumental composers, he wrote not only the masses, motets and chansons that were customary during this period, but also a large number of works without text that were obviously created for instruments by virtue of their construction. As a result, his musical rhetoric went considerably farther than his otherwise congenial colleagues Josquin Desprez and Heinrich Isaac, and he composed instru¬mental works that were far ahead of his time.

Ensemble Ars Italica - Musica del XV secolo in Italia - Music From 15th Century Italy (1991) {Tactus TC 40012201 rec 1988}
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© 1988, 1991 Tactus | TC 40012201
Classical / Renaissance / Early Music / Ars Nova

This CD, although its not recommended for a first approach to Ars Nova music, is a fine example of the sound clarity of the compositions of this era. The excellent performance of the works is adding to the general result which is of a very high level. Strongly recommended for the admirers of this kind of music!!

Johannes Ockeghem - Complete Secular Music - The Medieval Ensemble Of London (1993) {L'Oiseau-Lyre 436 194-2OH2 rec 1981}
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© 1981, 1993 Decca / L'Oiseau-Lyre | 436 194-2OH2
Classical / Renaissance / 15th Century / Early Music

This was the last of the wonderful series of fifteenth-century song sets issued by L'Oiseau-Lyre Florilegium under the initiative of the late Peter Wadland. Like the others—the complete Dufay songs and the complete Chansonnier Cordiforme—it was hardly intended for continuous listening throughout and therefore sits far better in CD format, where songs can be selected individually and repeated for more concentrated listening. Also like the others, it is a touch uneven in quality: perhaps two-thirds of the pieces here receive magnificent performances that go straight to the centre of the music, while a few merely skim the surface.

The Schola Cantorum in Basel has long championed the imaginative exploration of early music, creating expertly-researched programmes and encouraging superbly-performed interpretations with a close attention also to the most appropriate recording conditions. Such was the case with Amours amours amours, a disc of lute duos starting from music composed in the fifteenth century, recorded in 2001 by Karl-Ernst Schröder and Crawford Young.

Soprano Anna Prohaska and violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja are both well known for their taste for eclecticism, experimentation and adventure. As they are also are friends, it was only to be expected that one day they would devise and record a programme together, and here it is: Maria Mater Meretrix… What is the relationship between Hildegard von Bingen and Gustav Holst, Antonio Caldara and Lili Boulanger? The two musicians and their partners in Camerata Bern explore the image of woman through ten centuries of music: the figure of the Virgin Mary – among other works, the triptych Magnificat - Ave Maria - Stabat Mater (1967/68) by Frank Martin, an unclassifiable composer whom both artists venerate – but also Mary Magdalene, in pieces by Caldara and Kurtág. The Saint, the Mother, the Whore… The expression of two women musicians of today, a journey full of meaning and a sensory exploration featuring solos, duets, quartets and works for large orchestra.