Renaissance

Jordi Savall & Hespèrion XX - Moyen Âge & Renaissance - Middle ages & renaissance (1997) {Fontalis Auvidis ES 9904}
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© 1997 Fontalis / Auvidis France | ES 9904
Classical / Medieval / Renaissance

This disc consists of 22 landmark selections from Hesperion XX's various programs of music of the 12th to 14th centuries. Notable composers represented: Alfonso X El Sabio, Guillame Dufay, Eustache Du Caurroy, Orlando Lasso, Francisco Guerrero, Christopher Tye and Cristobal De Morales; several anonymous works included also.

The desire of Maria Ferré was to combine two of the most important instruments for her – the Renaissance lute and Baroque guitar – led her on her path towards the Renaissance guitar. The “master instrument” lute thereby profited from the sincere energy of the guitar. Ferré’s aim to exploit the potential of this instrument to its full range and her interest in unknown music played a significant role in the selection of the pieces for this recording and she decided to arrange works specifically for the Renaissance guitar.

Berlin-born Lukas Foss studied music in Paris before settling in Philadelphia in 1937. Though he freely explored diverse compositional styles, three of the works in this recording fall into his early neo-Classical period and exemplify his dictum that “to have a big foot in the future, you’ve got to have a big foot in the past.” Symphony No. 1 in G major is lyrical, bucolic and subtly jazz-influenced, while the Three American Pieces show Aaron Copland’s “open air” influence. Foss’s Ode expresses his feelings about the loss of American lives during the Second World War, and Renaissance Concerto is a “handshake across the centuries” ingeniously spiced with unexpected harmonic twists.

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. Only the very first track, ‘La Spagna’, features a trombone solo that I think sounds hurried. Thoughtfully, one trumpet is on the far left and the other on the far right, and even more thoughtfully, the booklet tells you who’s who.

Capilla Flamenca - Puer nobis: Kerstmis in de Renaissance (Christmas in the Renaissance) (1994) {Eufoda 1147}
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© 1994 Eufoda | 1147
Classical / Early Music / Renaissance / Christmas

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.

Madame d'amours is an enchanting and pleasingly varied collection of pieces performed for flute consort by The Attaignant Consort. The Consort was founded in 1998 by four graduates (from Australia, France, the Netherlands and Italy) of the Royal Conservatorium in The Hague. Having studied historical flute performance practice under Barthold Kuijken and/or Wilbert Hazelzet, these experts (they also work with such renowned groups as Les Musiciens du Louvre, Freiburger Barockorchester and Musica Antiqua Köln – amongst others) also pursue their passion for the sound world of the Renaissance flute in collaboration with Italian flute maker, Giovanni Tardino. The premise of all concerned is that such consort music aspired to a closeness to the patterns and intonations of the human voice. This was (and is, here) achieved by careful attention to instrumental articulation, expressiveness and dynamic shading. The Attaignant Consort likes to play with facsimiles of the original parts in preference to scores; and from memory whenever possible. For this recording the Consort is joined by harpist Marta Graziolino, lutanist Nigel North and flautist Mathieu Langlois.