Esoteric Recordings America is pleased to announce the release of a newly re-mastered and expanded clamshell box edition of the classic album, Turn of the Cards by Renaissance. Released in 1974, the album was an artistic triumph and heralded the band’s commercial breakthrough in the United States.
Featuring highly gifted vocalist Annie Haslam, Michael Dunford (acoustic guitars), John Tout (keyboards, vocals), Jon Camp (bass, vocals) and Terry Sullivan (drums, percussion), Turn of the Cards was recorded in March 1974 at De Lane Lea studios in Wembley, North London and featured the band incorporating symphonic orchestral arrangements into their material extensively on classic pieces such as ‘Running Hard’, ‘Things I Don’t Understand’ and ‘Mother Russia’…
Esoteric Antenna is pleased to announce the release of 50th Anniversary: Ashes Are Burning - An Anthology Live in Concert. To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the formation of Renaissance, vocalist Annie Haslam and band performed a series of concerts with an orchestra in the USA in October 2019 featuring a set list which included songs which had never been orchestrated or performed with an orchestra before. The most memorable concert took place at the Keswick Theater in Glenside, PA on 12th October 2019. This sold-out concert saw the band perform a set which included such classics as Carpet Of The Sun, Ocean Gypsy, Running Hard, Day Of The Dreamer and A Song For All Seasons and also saw a special guest appearance by Renaissance founder Jim McCarty who performed on the song Island and the epic closing piece Ashes Are Burning. It was a truly magical evening.
As a fanatic of early music, I was overjoyed when I discovered this recording, having known Weser-Renaissance from their performances of Schutz and other earlier composers. To jump right in, the instrumental tracks are quite powerful. In contrast to many other early music discs I've heard, this one exclusively uses what 16th-century musicians would consider 'high' (loud) instruments…sounds to me like shawms, which would have been used for outdoor performances. Track after track of these can become strident at times, but true to the period.
The Cathedral of Seville is a gigantic building even by today's standards - in 1401, the city's ecclesiastical superiors decided to build a huge church in place of the former mosque, which future generations would still marvel at, and is one of the largest churches in the world. From the former mosque, the magnificent tower "La Giralda" remains, as well as the courtyard planted with orange trees, which also gives the name to the new CD by The Royal Wind Music. The flute consort, consisting of 11 recorders of all sizes, takes the listener on a walk around and into the cathedral and lets Renaissance works created for this place sound at each station.
As with many composers from the early modern period, very little is known about Grégoire Brayssing. This recording features his only surviving work, printed in Paris in 1553 as the fourth volume in a series dedicated to the guitar published by Adrian Le Roy and Robert Ballard. Brayssing’s collection provides us with a few clues about his life: the frontispiece describes him as ‘de Augusta’, meaning he was born in the German city of Augsburg.
There are several very distinct periods of Renaissance history - of which the most exciting may well be the time surrounding their best album, A Song for All Seasons, It is the album - along with Azure d'Or and Novella - that almost broke them as pop stars and was filled with some of the most interesting (in their prog rock roots) songs they had yet written. This live album is from the tour accompanying the Song for All Seasons tour - and, as such, it could be argued that it is Renaissance at the peak of their powers. Even more so than Live at Carnegie Hall or the welcomed reunion concert, In the Land of the Rising Sun, Dreams & Omens captures Renaissance as one tight pop band. They almost play like a cross between the Alan Parsons Project and late-era ABBA…
Another stunning set from Harmonia Mundi in their rare 90's boxed editions of music from the Baroque and,as in this case, the Renaissance. Well renowned performers of period music jostle for attention on discs that range from "The Renaissance of the Mass","The Culmination of the Motet" "The Era of Polyphony", "the Golden Age of the Madrigal" to "The Instrumental Art" which features some wonderful Lute performances from Paul O'Dette. Composers include Gesualdo, Josquin Desprez, Claudio Monteverdi as well as many lesser known composers that prove to be very worthwhile discoveries.
Here's a wonderful live set from the current incarnation of Renaissance, that lovely '70s prog band who so successfully merged classical with symphonic rock and medieval themes. Recorded at The Keswick Theatre in Glenside, Pennsylvania on September 23rd, 2011, the band thrilled the audience with a performance of both their classic albums, Turn of the Cards and Sheherazade and Other Stories in their entirety. Joining the 'classic line-up' members Annie Haslam and Michael Dunford are keyboard players Rave Cesar & Jason Hart, bassist David Keyes, and drummer Frank Pagano. If you got a chance to see Renaissance on either the 2011 tour or previously in 2009, you know that this line-up is red hot and does their vintage material justice.
Esoteric Antenna is pleased to announce the release of 50th Anniversary: Ashes Are Burning - An Anthology Live in Concert. To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the formation of Renaissance, vocalist Annie Haslam and band performed a series of concerts with an orchestra in the USA in October 2019 featuring a set list which included songs which had never been orchestrated or performed with an orchestra before. The most memorable concert took place at the Keswick Theater in Glenside, PA on 12th October 2019. This sold-out concert saw the band perform a set which included such classics as Carpet Of The Sun, Ocean Gypsy, Running Hard, Day Of The Dreamer and A Song For All Seasons and also saw a special guest appearance by Renaissance founder Jim McCarty who performed on the song Island and the epic closing piece Ashes Are Burning. It was a truly magical evening.
The vocal and instrumental consort Capilla Flamenca takes its name from the choir of the court chapel of Emperor Charles V. When Charles left the Low Countries in 1517, he took his best musicians with him in order to accompany him as ‘living polyphony’ to Spain.