Polyphony

“But remember that song is a most powerful imitator of all things. It imitates the intentions and passions of the soul as well as words…By the same power, when it imitates the celestials, it also wonderfully arouses our spirit upwards to the celestial influence and the celestial influence downwards to our spirit.” Marsilio Ficino, Three Books on Life (1489), Book 3, Chapter XXI

Arvo Part - Berliner Messe, Magnificat Antiphons and other works (2014) {Hyperion}
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© 1998, 2014 Hyperion Records | CDH55408
Classical / Spiritual / Vocal Non-Opera / Masses

Here is some of the most spiritually uplifting music of our generation, sung by that most virtuosic of choirs, Polyphony. Arvo Pärt (paralleled in England by John Tavener) has succeeded in capturing the attention of a broad public through his consummate ability to weave a sense of inevitable power into music of fundamental simplicity. The impressive Berlin Mass which opens the disc was written in 1990, the Credo being a fascinating major-key reworking of the earlier minor-mode Summa; very much an expression of joy at the lifting of the Soviet embargo on ‘sacred’ music in Estonia. Annum per Annum is a monumental work for solo organ and is here performed on the organ of St Paul’s Cathedral: a thoroughly exhilarating experience. The disc ends with the masterpiece De profundis. This most powerful of texts draws from Pärt an inexorable momentum from a beginning almost out of nothing to a devastating climax.

Anonymous 4 - Lily & The Lamb
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 289 MB | Full Artwork: 258 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Harmonia Mundi # HMU 907125 | Country/Year: Europe 1995
Genre: Classical, Sacred | Style: Medieval, Vocal

"The singing is absolutely gorgeous. Not only do the 4 sound like angels; they phrase and inflect seraphically as well. You need go no further than the 'O Gloriosa Domina' Processional that starts the program to hear their clear, handsome, seemingly effortless unanimity in action…'Stond wel, moder, under roode' took my breath away." – American Record Guide

The Le Puy Manuscript: The office for New Year's Day at the Cathedral of Le Puy-en-Velay, 12th-16th centuries
Early French Polyphony: Eleventh-century organa and tropes
Ensemble Gilles Binchois / Dominique Vellard
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 509 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Virgin Classical "veritasx2" # 7243 5 61940 2 1 | Country/Year: Europe 2001 (1996, 1992)
Genre: Classical | Style: Medieval, Sacred

…the women of the Gilles Binchois Ensemble sing a fine selection of early troped Mass music to show the 'other' new music of the time. Again, this is beautifully done; the contrast between the men and the women matches the contrast between these two kinds of music. Listen to it if you can: the disc deserves to become a classic.

This spectacular set features a quintessential selection of western sacred music that that will please one and all, from an inquisitive novice to a discerning connoisseur. It features a vast array of critically acclaimed recordings of more than seventy cornerstone works, ranging from the earliest Christian chants to gospel songs and Gershwin's blues. The performers include some of today's finest artists, including René Jacobs, Philippe Herreweghe, Paul Hillier and William Christie. Offered at a special low price, this limited edition set is packaged in a luxury clamshell style box containing 29 discs of music and one PDF disc with sung texts.