Viol Consort

Ferrabosco - Rose Consort of Viols - Consort Music
Music by Alfonso Ferrabosco I (1543-1588 # Alfonso Ferrabosco II (1578-1628)
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 390 MB | Full Artwork: 68 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: CPO # 999 859-2 | Country/Year: Germany 2003
Genre: Classical | Style: Renaissance

"Insgesamt eröffnet die Aufnahme ruhige, intensive Klänge und offenbart eine große klangliche Schönheit - Unterhaltung auf höchstem Niveau." ~klassik.com

The Ladyes Delight: Entertainment Music of Elizabethan England
Classical, Renaissance/Folk | 1 CD | EAC | FLAC, CUE, LOG | Scans | 351 MB | RS
Recorded: Apr., May, Dec. 1997, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, NY
Released: 1998 | Label: Dorian DOR-90252 | TT: 63:18
The Baltimore Consort

Baltimore Consort is well-known for their skillful renditions of Renaissance music, and Ladyes Delight, their 1998 release, definitely continues that tradition. Here they perform the "broken consort," or mixed-ensemble secular music, for instruments such as bandora, cittern, viol, flute, and lute. The melodies are resplendent with the multiple layers and textures that the artists offer with much joyous enthusiasm, from the lucidly balladic "Yonder Comes a Courteous Knight" to the cheerfully lilting "Jumpe at My Cozen." This is another must-have album for Renaissance music collectors. (Murrday Fisher, All Music Guide)

At the end of the Thirty Years War, the support of the Viennese Imperial Court allowed the emergence of an extraordinarily talented generation of musicians speaking with virtuosity, humour and depth. Schmelzer, Biber and Kerll were at the forefront. For Carnival festivities where music has pride of place they regale us with earthy works that mimic the sounds of nature and everyday life. They also had to meet the taste of Emperor Leopold I, who particularly appreciated imitative counterpoint, and for whom they composed these sonatas which have the power to elevate the soul and spirit.

Under the single name, Alfonso, lie two composers, father and son. The strongest bond between them must have been composing; there was precious little else, since Ferrabosco the Elder fled England precipitously in the year his son and namesake was born. As viol players they had some influence on developments in their adoptive land. They are well known to viol players today, and what is presented here, with father and son in alternation, is of far more than academic interest.

Jérôme Lejeune continues his History of Music series with this boxed set devoted to the Renaissance. The next volume in the series after Flemish Polyphony (RIC 102), this set explores the music of the 16th century from Josquin Desprez to Roland de Lassus. After all of the various turnings that music took during the Middle Ages, the music of the Renaissance seems to be a first step towards a common European musical style. Josquin Desprez’s example was followed by every composer in every part of Europe and in every musical genre, including the Mass setting, the motet and all of the various new types of solo song. Instrumental music was also to develop considerably from the beginning of the 16th century onwards.

The subtitle of this program is “Renaissance Madrigals Embellished,” a collection of the diminution repertoire that, as ensemble director and founder Skip Sempé says in a printed interview, was only miraculously written out or prepared for publication at all.
Antico / Moderno is a journey into music embellished throughout the ages, proving that this ractice, born over 500 years ago, is still alive today. This programme, conceived with care by Skip Sempé, provides time travel with an incredible diversity of sounds and colours. A rare testimony of elegance - that a simple melody composed at the heart of the Renaissance can create an intense emotional experience even in the world of today.