Renaissance 2012

An album entitled Renaissance is long overdue for the widely acclaimed Renaissance Man Marcus Miller. In among the most enviable careers in music, Miller is a two-time Grammy-winner and the composer/producer of ten critically acclaimed and genre-defying albums (seven studio and three live). Even the most devoted follower may be astonished to realise that Renaissance is only his eighth studio project since his 1983 debut, Suddenly, considering the abundance of occasions Miller's name has appeared within album credits and that he has dazzled with performances, compositions and productions in the company of some of the world s most respected and accomplished players and superstars - from the mid-'70s to the present.

Renata Fusco & Massimo Lonardi - Animali In Musica Nel Rinascimento, Il Bestiario Di Leonardo (2012) {Discantica 255}
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© 2012 La Bottega Discantica | Discantica 255
Classical / Renaissance / Vocal / Lute

Songs by Maddalena Casulana, Giulio Cesare Barbetta, Vincenzo Capriola, Francesco da Milano, Baldassarre Donato, Paolo Fonghetti, Stefano Lando, Pietro da Lodi, Giacomo Gorzanis-The interpreters of this CD have compiled a small musical zoology based on the "Fables" of Leonardo da Vinci and the "Bestiario", in turn based on the "Historia Naturale" by Plinio. The vocal passages that constitute the sound commentary to the Leonardesque writings contain various references to the animal world, while the Researchers and Fantasies for lute alone are interspersed as preludes or interludes to the sequnza of the compositions.

The Stockholm Chamber Brass here presents a well-played program of Renaissance music arranged for modern brass, with the pluses and caveats that implies. The music’s fantastic and very well-selected: Susato, Dowland, Monteverdi, Gesualdo. The program itself smartly combines these, moving from lively dances and martial airs to arias and slow works of great beauty. Many tracks add percussion to the mix. The Monteverdi ‘moresca’ (track 25) is irresistible. The brass ensemble plays marvelously throughout, especially in slower, more introspective selections.

Comparable to Heinrich Schütz as a composer but not as well known, Grabbe is regarded as an important mediator of Italian vocal artistry in the north-western region of Germany. Since he was influenced by Franco-Flemish polyphony and the English compositional style, he embodied the leading musical trends of his time. This release continues CPO's new series in musicians and music of the Weser-Rennaisance in northern Germany.

Trombone Grande: Music for bass sackbut around 1600 - Oltremontano, Wim Becu (2012) {Accent ACC 24263}
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© 2012 Accent | ACC 24263
Classical / Renaissance / Baroque / Chamber Music / Bass Trombone

Wim Becu plays on a bass trombone made in 1994, based on a 1640 instrument. No fanciful programs here. This is simply music emphasizing the bass sackbut, the so-called trombone grande , composed around 1600. It was at the time among the most popular of ceremonial instruments, both for noble and civic use, as numerous surviving inventories and payment schedules of the period attest. These things change, of course, and by the end of the 17th century the entire trombone family had faded away—not to reappear on the international stage until 100 years later, in a different role, associated with the tonal expansion of the modern orchestra. (Both Gluck and Mozart set the trombone to accompany Don Giovanni on his trip to hell, but the instrument had a two-way ticket.)

This is a good selection of motets because it hardly duplicates the last two such discs. On Orlando Consort’s collection of Josquin’s motets ( Fanfare 34:1), only Read more is heard, and none of them are on David Skinner’s more varied disc (33:1). It follows another Josquin disc by Cordes (35:6), though it was recorded a year later, a fine offering that unfortunately had to compete with an excellent recording of a Mass in Peter Phillips’s ongoing series.

La Morra - Luz del alva (2012) {Ramée RAM 1203}
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© 2012 Ramée / Outhere Music | RAM 1203
Classical / Early Music / Renaissance

La Morra is among the leading formations specializing in late Medieval and early Renaissance European music. The group redefines itself according to the requirements of the projects it undertakes. For Luz del alva, Corina Marti and Michal Gondko join forces with Catalan singer and harpist Arianna Savall, Norwegian singer Petter Johansen, and Swedish historical bowed instruments player Tore Eketorp.

Alessandro Striggio (1536-1592) - Mass for 40 and 60 voices - Le Concert Spirituel & Hervé Niquet (2012) {Glossa GCDSA 921623}
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© 2012 Glossa / Note 1 Music | GCDSA 921623 | Hybrid SACD
Classical / Renaissance / Baroque / Sacred Vocal Music

As his starting point for a brand new recording of the music from the polychoral Renaissance and the “monumental Baroque”, with Alessandro Striggio’s 40 and 60-part Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno leading the way, Hervé Niquet turns to the musical celebrations for a feast day occasion in the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence in honour of St John the Baptist, adding a trio of works by Orazio Benevoli, another specialist in multi-parted choral works, and Striggio’s motet Ecce beatem lucem, also scored for 40 voices.