Pierre de la Rue

Another stunning set from Harmonia Mundi in their rare 90's boxed editions of music from the Baroque and,as in this case, the Renaissance. Well renowned performers of period music jostle for attention on discs that range from "The Renaissance of the Mass","The Culmination of the Motet" "The Era of Polyphony", "the Golden Age of the Madrigal" to "The Instrumental Art" which features some wonderful Lute performances from Paul O'Dette. Composers include Gesualdo, Josquin Desprez, Claudio Monteverdi as well as many lesser known composers that prove to be very worthwhile discoveries.

On the death of Anne of Brittany, her husband King Louis XII honoured her with exceptional funeral ceremonies lasting forty days, which sealed forever her image as Queen of France and Duchess of Brittany. As he prepared this programme centring on the Missa pro defunctis of Antoine de Févin, and read the exceptionally vivid narrative by the herald of Anne of Brittany (whom her subjects nicknamed simply ‘Bretaigne’!), Denis Raisin Dadre realised that beyond all this official mourning staged by the royal authority, there was also a silent sorrow, that of the Bretons who had lost their duchess and were also in the process of losing their duchy’s independence.

La Morra - Dame de Deuil: Musical Offerings for Marguerite of Austria (1480-1530) (2005) {Etcetera KTC 4011}
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© 2005 Klara / Etcetera Records | KTC 4011
Classical / Early Music / Renaissance

Marguerite of Austria (1480-1530) lived a sad life, by the time she was thirty she was berieved of her child, family and a future on the French throne. Nevertheless, Marguerite was artistically gifted and enjoyed the comforting company of writers, musicians and composers at her court in Mechelen. Her library is a ‘mer à boire’ of exceptional musical manuscripts. Musical works reflecting the grief and unhappiness of the narrator fill the greater part of a splendid manuscript housed nowadays in the Bibliothèque Royale in Brussels; it was undoubtedly prepared for Marguerite between 1508 and 1516 in full awareness of her musical tastes and her predilection for mournful subjects.

Founded in Paris in 1978 the Ensemble Clément Janequin devotes itself principally to the secular and religious music of the Renaissance. Its interpretations of the Parisian chanson are regarded as authoritative, and recordings of works like Les Cris de Paris, Le Chant des Oyseaulx, Fricassée Parisienne and La Chasse have brought back to life one of golden ages of French music. Now available to a wide audience, the music of Janequin, Sermisy, Anthoine de Bertrand, Costeley, Roland de Lassus and Claude Le Jeune illustrates the contrasts in which the Renaissance took such delight…

Le livre tiré par Edmond Michelet de ses notes de Dachau constitue un des documents les plus vivants et les plus honnêtes sur l'aventure concentrationnaire […]

Adolphe Marlaud, employé des pompes funèbres, surveille depuis chez lui la tombe de son père, milicien vichyste qui avait dénoncé sa femme juive. Adolphe est sous la coupe de sa concierge, Mme C., grande admiratrice de Luis Mariano, qui a décidé d'en faire son amant…

A rebours d'auteurs qu'elle juge déclinistes, l'auteur propose une analyse novatrice et optimiste de la situation en France en puisant dans la philosophie politique, l'économie, la sociologie ou les sciences. Elle insiste notamment sur tous les éléments qui permettent encore, selon elle, de faire nation entre les Français. …

Various Artists - La Polyphonie Flamande - The Flemish Polyphony (2011) {8CD Set Ricercar RIC 102}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.67 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 1.45 Gb
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© 2011 Outhere / Ricercar | RIC 102
Classical / Early Music / Polyphony / Medieval / Choral / Renaissance / Sacred Works

The composers known collectively as the Fiamminghi made their mark in Europe in general and in Italy and in France in particular during the 15th century. Their talent and skill gained them the most important positions in the great musical establishments of the time. This collection is devoted to the leading composers of the 15th century, from those of the first generation (Guillaume Dufay, Gilles Binchois, Arnold de Lantins and Johannes Brassart) through Johannes Ockeghem, the great master of polyphonic technique, to Josquin Desprez and Pierre de La Rue, two musicians taught by Ockeghem who laid the foundations of the Ars Perfecta during the Renaissance. Also included is Jacob Obrecht, the only composer of this school whose career was based essentially in his native Flanders. Every genre of both sacred as well as secular music of the time is represented here.