Musica Rilassante

Following the success of her Orchid Classics debut, Variations sérieuses, Lilit Grigoryan returns with an album devoted to the hypnotically beautiful Música callada by Spanish composer Frederic Mompou, hailed during his lifetime as the successor to Debussy. Mompou’s Música callada (meaning ‘Quiet’ or ‘Silent Music’) was published in four volumes between 1959 and 1967; his final burst of solo piano music and one of the greatest achievements in the Spanish piano repertoire. The concept of ‘silent music’ comes from the Spanish mystic, St John of the Cross, whose writings inspired Mompou as he composed these pieces. The result is a collection of exquisite miniatures of varied colours and mesmerising depths, performed with nuance and sensitivity by Lilit Grigoryan. 'An assertive and beyond-her-years performance from the Armenian pianist.' BBC Music Magazine on Variations sérieuses on Orchid Classics.

This musical journey takes its title from one of William Corbett's Bizzarie universali, a set of concertos which, in truth, owe much more to the Italian tradition than to the Iberian peninsula.

Guillaume de Machaut - Les Motets - Ensemble Musica Nova (2011) {2CD Set Aeon AECD1108 rec 2002}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 426 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 219 Mb
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© 2002, 2011 Aeon | AECD 1108
Classical / Medieval / Early Music / 4th Century

Complete Motets of Machaut (re-release) Since the beauty, richness and diversity of such an oeuvre made it impossible to choose amongst the 23 motets by the Canon of Reims, the Musica Nova ensemble decided to embark on the adventure of a complete recording. Two years of work and research were necessary for putting this programme together, as the musicians strove for an in-depth approach to each motet in terms of both style and an instrumentation made possible by the very structure of the ensemble. This disc, which had a resounding critical success when first released, offers the first complete translation in modern French of Guillaume de Machaut's motets. An indispensable set!

This recording project – the culmination of a research work that started out in 2020 – follows the released record of the third book of madrigals (Tactus, TC531601, 2021) by the same author, which was the result of the first collaboration between conductor Elia Orlando, ensemble Tuscae Voces – that he conducts – and record label Tactus. It is safe to say that the outcomes confirm how the musical landscape in Renaissance Prato deserves way more attention than it has drawn so far, and that Biagio Pesciolini – besides being closely connected to the Florentine court – was an author whose vision went beyond the city walls of Prato. Although praised by peers Ludovico Zacconi and Antonio Brunelli for his mastery of those techniques that belong to Flemish-origin ars musica, he skilfully took on both “orthogonal” writing for double choir and winding compositions for five and six voices, which proves that Biagio Pesciolini was indeed open and receptive to the different tendencies of Italy’s most important musical centres.

Medieval Music In Denmark - Musica Ficta, Bo Holten (1999) {Dacapo 8.224133}
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© 1999 Dacapo | 8.224133
Classical / Medieval / Choral / Sacred

The music contained on this recording ranges from the earliest known - regrettably unflattering - mention of Danes in music in the 9th century to Danish songs from the 15th century. It includes 13th century Parisian polyphony found in a remarkable Danish source and Danish versions of songs from the international repertory and thus illustrates both a Danish contribution to European music and the musical contacts that Denmark enjoyed with the rest of Europe in the Middle Ages.

"Freude, schöner Götterfunken!" (Joy, fair sparks of the gods) seems to be the cry of the fifth and penultimate GENUIN CD by the Camerata Limburg of the complete recording of Schubert's works for male choir. The title of the program is "Elysium," which says it all. The album is a pleasurable stroll through heavenly realms: known and unknown, from poems by Schiller, Klopstock and many, many other wonderful poets. The interpretation is on par with the entire collection: an immaculate ensemble sound and an interpretation wonderfully worked out by conductor Jan Schumacher and his masters. The only drawback? The next album in autumn will be the last of this series.

After their acclaimed recording of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, La Nuova Musica and David Bates expand their PENTATONE discography with Handel’s Unsung Heroes, in which the instrumentalists of Handel’s operas are put centre stage. Traditionally restricted to an “invisible” existence in the orchestra pit, La Nuova Musica’s obbligato instrumentalists – violinist Thomas Gould, oboist Leo Duarte and bassoonist Joe Qiu – are now in the limelight. They will stand as equal partners alongside a world-class line up of soloists – soprano Lucy Crowe, mezzo-soprano Christine Rice and countertenor Iestyn Davies – showing how Handel wrote music as virtuosic and lyrical for his unsung heroes as for their singing counterparts. The album includes arias from Handel masterpieces such as Rinaldo, Giulio Cesare, Agrippina and Ariodante.

The first monographic recording entirely dedicated to Francesco Rasi is released for the 400th anniversary of his death (30 November 1621). The first interpreter of Monteverdi’s Orfeo, an astonishing tenor and poet with a life studded with triumphs, constant travels, debts and murders, this native of Arezzo was fought over by all the courts of Italy and Europe. The pieces, on texts by Petrarch, Guarini, Chiabrera and Rasi himself – including ten world premieres – are taken from the Vaghezze di Musica (1608) and the Madrigali (1610). Tenor soloist Riccardo Pisani explores their extraordinary poetic and musical power, in a kaleidoscope of affects divided into seven ‘strings of the lyre’. He is accompanied by the Ensemble Arte Musica, directed by harpsichordist Francesco Cera. The two artists have been collaborating for years on rediscovering the Italian vocal repertory of the seventeenth century, as witnessed by the recent success of their set of Frescobaldi CDs, released on Arcana.