Renaissance

The first album by the '70s (i.e. Annie Haslam) version of Renaissance is a transitional work, rooted in more standard hard rock sounds (including psychedelia) than what followed. One can spot the difference, which may please some listeners and put others off, in the fairly heavy guitar sound of "Prologue," Rob Hendry's electric instrument playing both lead and rhythm parts prominently at various times behind Annie Haslam's soaring vocals and adjacent to John Tout's piano.

The Spirit of the Renaissance - Ensemble Weser-Renaissance Bremen, Manfred Cordes (1995) {CPO 999-294-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 314 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 146 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 36 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1995 CPO | 999-294-2
Classical / Early Music / Renaissance

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.

Die sogenannte ,,Alte Musik-Szene" ist in einer noch vor ein paar Jahren für undenkbar gehaltenen Expansion begriffen. Fast jeden Tag werden neue Ensembles gegründet und neue ,,alte" Werke zum ersten Mal der stummen Vergangenheit entrissen. Wir leben - wie wohl nie zuvor - auf Du und Du mit unserer jahrhundertealten Musikgeschichte.

Symphonic Rock Recordings is delighted to announce the release of a new 2 CD and DVD live album by Renaissance, “A Symphonic Journey”. This wonderful recording captures in sound and vision a very special concert staged at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside PA, USA on 27th October 2017. Renaissance perform an extensive set of classic material with the Renaissance Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble especially formed for a series of American concerts.

Songs for a Wise King - Cantigas de Santa Maria, Vol. I - The Renaissance Players (1996) {Walsingham Classics WAL8007-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 294 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 145 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 146 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1996 Walsingham Classics | WAL 8007-2
Classical / Medieval / Early Music / 13th Century / Spanish

In 13th century Spain, seven hundred years before anyone thought of using the term 'world music', a remarkable king named Alfonso the Wise was creating it. Alfonso X, King of Castile and Leon, filled his courts with the finest poets, musicians, artists and scientists he could find, from all three of the Iberian peninsula's great religions. Christian, Jews and Muslims worked side by side, creating a body of work that included groundbreaking scientific and astronomic treatises, translations of epic poems and scriptures from as far away as India—and some of the earliest and most sophisticated blends of European and Middle Eastern/Arabic music. The greatest of these was the enormous collection of songs in praise of the Virgin Mary now called Cantigas de Santa Maria.

Jérôme Lejeune continues his History of Music series with this boxed set devoted to the Renaissance. The next volume in the series after Flemish Polyphony (RIC 102), this set explores the music of the 16th century from Josquin Desprez to Roland de Lassus. After all of the various turnings that music took during the Middle Ages, the music of the Renaissance seems to be a first step towards a common European musical style. Josquin Desprez’s example was followed by every composer in every part of Europe and in every musical genre, including the Mass setting, the motet and all of the various new types of solo song. Instrumental music was also to develop considerably from the beginning of the 16th century onwards.

Demon Music will release Renaissance, an 11-disc M People career-spanning box set in February that features albums, remixes, rarities and two DVDs.