M22

Guillaume de Machaut - The Hilliard Ensemble - Motets
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 290 MB | Full Artwork: 163 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: ECM New Series # 1823 | Country/Year: Germany 2004
Genre: Classical | Style: Medieval, Sacred, Vocal

"…Countertenors David James and David Gould shape Machaut's almost Faulknerian top-voice syntax into affecting emotional statements, and even listeners new to medieval music will become ensnared in the poet's quest for the slightest glance of regard from his unattainable Lady. (…) Still, it's been a while since a major disc of Machaut motets was released (this disc contains 18 pieces, a few of them sacred), and if the Hilliard Ensemble doesn't close the book on this music, they nevertheless interpret it beautifully for our times." ~allmusicguide

When one of Germany’s most famous filmmakers and stimulating operatic directors focuses her creativity on a rarely performed Handel opera, the result is a “mixture of dancers and singers, comedy and pathos” (The Times). “Admeto”, one of Handel’s most popular operas in his lifetime, was premiered in London in January 1727. Doris Dörrie, whose Japan-inspired feature film “Cherry Blossoms – Hanami” was a major German box-office hit and won several international awards, returns to her beloved Japan in this production… Bernd Lepel

Guillaume de Machaut - The Hilliard Ensemble - Motets
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 273 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: ECM # New Series 1823 | Country/Year: Germany 2004
Genre: Classical | Style: Medieval, Vocal

…Of course, nobody can coax the impact out of a dissonance like the Hilliard Ensemble. Countertenors David James and David Gould shape Machaut's almost Faulknerian top-voice syntax into affecting emotional statements, and even listeners new to medieval music will become ensnared in the poet's quest for the slightest glance of regard from his unattainable Lady…

We have here the exception to the traditional "M 22" rule (M22 refers to the collection of complete Mozart operas taped by Deutsche Grammophon in Salzburg last summer, and now available on DVD) whereby regardless of the stage production, the musical quality remains very strong. In this "Sogno", it is the other way round. The production is smart, witty, transposed in the 1920s, and always ALWAYS keep the interest of the audience high…By Autonome

This Magic Flute (part of the M22 project) is charming and delightful, a sheer joy. It achieves just the right balance between the fairytale and spiritual elements of the singspiel and is brimming with inventiveness. The bright pop-up-book colours and toyshop imagery perfectly represent the pantomime aspect of this "magic opera" which meshes well with the altogether more serious business of Sarastro's realm of Enlightenment wisdom. I love the burlesque touches which occur throughout and the comic scenes around Papageno which make this such a happy and constantly droll performance…
Riccardo Muti conducts the ever-wonderful VPO at a good pace and with a transparency that brings out the finest touches of orchestral detail.