Ignota Lingua

Sinfonye - Trois Soeurs | Three Sisters - Songs from 13th-century France (2001) {Glossa Nouvelle Vision GCD 920704}
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© 2001 Glossa Nouvelle Vision | GCD 920704
Classical / Medieval / Early Music / 13th Century

The three women that make up the early music ensemble Sinfonye tap into some of medieval France’s more lively and entertaining repertoire in this generously filled program of 13th-century songs and motets. Not surprisingly for performances of music from this period, the singers have assumed a certain interpretive license, not only in terms of the specifics of the vocal lines but also regarding accompaniments, which include the delightfully reedy sounds of hurdy-gurdy and medieval fiddle. In some cases, they begin with a piece in its more formal written form–a motet–and extract what probably was the original melody that inspired it.

“Change is inevitable if you’re lucky,” says guitarist / vocalist Alex Edkins while talking about Atlas Vending, the fourth full-length album by Toronto’s Metz. “Our goal is to remain in flux, to grow in a natural and gradual way. We’ve always been wary to not overthink or intellectualize the music we love but also not satisfied until we’ve accomplished something that pushes us forward.” The music made by Edkins and his compatriots Hayden Menzies (drums) and Chris Slorach (bass) has always been a little difficult to pin down.

Sightless Pit brings together three of the most ambitious and prolific minds in heavy music today. The trio, comprised of Lee Buford of The Body, Kristin Hayter of Lingua Ignota and Dylan Walker of Full of Hell, combine their profound talents and eclectic tastes to make music that is defiantly original and emotionally sublime. Grave of a Dog was crafted without any clear rules or guidelines beyond their desire to work with one another. The central pillar to what coheres the three into a unified voice throughout the album is a shared bleak vision of existence and a willingness to follow each other into bold new territory. While their collaboration borrows keystones from each members’ musical arsenal, from Buford’s singular percussion and production to Walker’s venomous howl to Hayter’s virtuosic voice, in tandem the trio carve out a path all their own for a wildly dynamic and exhilarating experience.

Alexis Marshall is best known as the frontman for Rhode Island’s notorious provocateurs Daughters, whose eight-year hiatus between their posthumous self-titled album and the critically acclaimed comeback album You Won’t Get What You Want found the ever-evolving band explode from down-and-out cult heroes to one of the biggest bands in the nebulous territory where abrasive noise rock fuses with high-art aspirations. For his debut album House of Lull . House of When, Marshall wanted to push that sense of chaos even further, by crafting an album around moments of spontaneity and sonic detritus, where a mistake could become a hook or the whip of a chain could become a beat.

When Beethoven introduced himself to the Viennese public, playing his own First Piano Concerto in 1795, the other works in the concert were the first half of this oratorio and a symphony by the same composer, who in the following year was appointed Director of Music at the court of Prince Lobkowitz. Antonio Cartellieri, although his father was an Italian, was born in Danzig in 1772, which makes him a fairly close contemporary of Beethoven's. Abandoned at 13 by his parents after their divorce he must have had sufficient talent to attract aristocratic patronage, which enabled him to study in Vienna with Salieri and Albrechtsberger. He died, however, at 35, and until now not even scholars researching Beethoven's early career seem to have taken any interest in him.