Paul Nobal Chinese

The subtitle of "A Bridge of Dreams," a 2011 album with Ars Nova Copenhagen and Paul Hillier, is "a cappella Music from the Pacific Rim," and it includes the works of composers from Australia, New Zealand, California, and China, all of which draws in part, if not entirely, on non-Western musical traditions. Lou Harrison left the accompaniment for his Mass for Saint Cecilia's Day open-ended and here Andrew Lawrence-King provides a discreet undergirding using medieval harp, psaltery, and hurdy-gurdy. It bears a strong resemblance to Medieval plainchant mass in its predominantly monophonic, melismatic writing, and its modal character. The modes, though, are Harrison's own, based on traditional Indonesian and Chinese scales. The mass is a beautifully expressive, immediately engaging piece that reveals a fresh facet of the composer's brilliantly expansive imagination.

This package, released on Archiv Laserdisc and VHS in December 1993, was recorded a year earlier at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome in cooperation with a consortium of European television broadcasters. It consists of two distinct but complementary programs, the first under McCreesh followed by another under Pinnock. As the notes point out, the basilica is the perfect site for such a program, since it has claimed to possess the very crib in which the infant lay on the first Christmas. For centuries the papal celebration of the Midnight Mass of Christmas was held “ad praesepe,” at the altar where the crib was venerated. Typically for such concert videos, we see appropriate scenes in the basilica alternating with views of the singers and players.

C'est à partir d'un “Avertissement” de Marin Marais lui-même, dans son IIe livre de pièces de viole (1701), qu'est née l'idée de cet enregistrement tout à fait original et inédit. En effet, il y invite les musiciens à ne pas jouer le pièces de viole seulement sur la viole : “J'ai eu attention en les composant à les rendre propres pour être joués sur toutes sortes d'instruments comme l'orgue, clavecin, théorbe, luth, violon, flûte allemande…”, et prié les interprètes de “se donner la peine de les mettre sur chaque instrument en particulier”. Il ajoute, dans l'“Avertissement” de son IIIe livre : “Il ne s'agira que d'en savoir faire le choix pour chacun des instrument” (et) remplir le vide entre le sujet et la basse afin de ne pas faire de mauvais sons, ce qui est une règle très essentielle à l'harmonie.”