Ars Nova

Marilyn Mazur - Jordsange (2000) {dacapo DCCD 9454}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 359 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 146 Mb
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© 2000 dacapo | DCCD 9454
Jazz / Post Bop / Straight-Ahead Jazz / Jazz Ensemble / Percussion

Born in New York yet reared in Denmark, percussionist Marilyn Mazur has performed with a who’s who of modern jazz artists, which includes a stint with the late Miles Davis. Basically, Ms. Mazur is recognized as a percussionist who melds supple rhythms and multihued patterns into lyrically rich frameworks while adhering to compositional structure, nuance and subtly via her variegated array of instruments. These days, Ms. Mazur has been recording and touring with Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek while also performing with Denmark’s highly esteemed “Copenhagen Art Ensemble” who along with the vocal group “Ars Nova” provide the percussionist with exemplary support on her new solo release titled, Jordsange (Earth Songs).

Polyphonic 14th-century Italian secular music seems to emerge out of nowhere in the history of music. Nevertheless, this tradition – which often goes by the name Ars Nova – fits seamlessly into the history of Italian culture. Our knowledge of it has been pieced together from relatively few sources, which nevertheless reveal three distinct phases. In its first phase, Italian Ars Nova spread out from universities, including those of Padua and Bologna, which had strong links with the dominant and contemporaneous French Ars Nova. In the second phase, the centre of 14th-century Italian polyphony seems to shift markedly to Florence. The final phase, which bridged the late 1300s and early 1400s, shows the influence of intense cultural exchange brought about by an international circulation of musicians and poets caused by the political instability of the papacy’s return from Avignon to Rome and the consequent heightened mobility among the various courts and their entourages.

The Early Music Consort of London - Music Of The Gothic Era
works by Petrus De Cruce, Philippe De Vitry, Guillaume De Machaut & others
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 252 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Archiv Produktionen # 415 292-2 | Country/Year: Germany 1985, 1976
Genre: Classical | Style: Medieval

…The clarity of the singing is haunting, compelling in the solo material, polyphonic selections, and the choral work, which is perfectly blended. There are no shortcomings to this recording, and it is assembled to both respect a valuable historical timeline and entertain listeners. Even the pre-digital, 1976 recording quality is beyond reproach. For those even mildly interested learning the early works of Western European music, this is an essential find.

The repertoire presented here is made up exclusively of the musical glosses or Ars nova diminutions that are found in the manuscript 117 of the Biblioteca Comunale Manfrediana of Faenza, the renowned 'Codex Faenza'.

Active in Venice and Padua at the beginning of the 15th century, Johannes Ciconia was undoubtedly the most important composer of this transitional period. Born in Liège and trained in the principles of the French and Italian Ars Nova, he played a considerable role in the musical development that led little by little towards the Renaissance.

In the monastic life of the Cistercian order, as in the case of the female monastery of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas (Burgos), a royal pantheon, the seat of coronations and the epicentre of a very intense musical life in which singing played an extremely important part, the nuns were called upon to live a life of simplicity, silence, prayer and contemplation. Flavit auster, which is part of the Las Huelgas Codex, is a Marian text inspired in the Song of Songs in which the most powerful symbols of femininity appear, such as the honeycomb, milk and honey, and protectiveness described as “mother of mercy, port of hope for the shipwrecked and virgin mother purified.”

4 CD Box set from Mellow records devoted to recounting the wonderful 1970's Italian progressive rock scene…