Vox+dei

Vox Archangeli combines original Gregorian chants from early medieval times with modern electronic sounds. The inspiration comes from a wide range of musical influences, from classical and folk music, through to pop and rock. In recent years Vox Archangeli have gained attention both internationally and in their native Sweden. Besides having had all their three full length releases placed in the official Swedish album charts, they have performed several times on Swedish television, at numerous festivals as well as prestigious awards shows.
Vox Archangeli’s big Sanctus project is based upon the three archangels: Michael, Gabriel and Raphael - each holding the theme for one full length album. In the musical fusion between Gregorian chanting and electronic soundscapes, the group manages to capture the qualities that characterize the four archangels…

Vox Archangeli combines original Gregorian chants from early medieval times with modern electronic sounds. The inspiration comes from a wide range of musical influences, from classical and folk music, through to pop and rock. In recent years Vox Archangeli have gained attention both internationally and in their native Sweden. Besides having had all their three full length releases placed in the official Swedish album charts, they have performed several times on Swedish television, at numerous festivals as well as prestigious awards shows.
Vox Archangeli’s big Sanctus project is based upon the three archangels: Michael, Gabriel and Raphael - each holding the theme for one full length album. In the musical fusion between Gregorian chanting and electronic soundscapes, the group manages to capture the qualities that characterize the four archangels…

St. Francis urged his followers to "go through the world preaching and praising God, … first one of them who knew how to preach should preach to the people and that after the sermon they were to sing the praises of God [[i]laudes domini] as minstrels of the Lord [[i]joculatores Dei]". This little Franciscan vignette conveys the new world of religious thought and feeling that would transform western religious practice in the burgeoning cities of medieval Europe: an active ministry that embraced the secular realm of urban laity, a vigorous new preaching style characterized by spontaneity and directness of expression, and an affective devotional environment that melded sermon, prayer, and song. The fate of this Franciscan legacy in the following centuries as it was adapted, extended, refined, reformed, institutionalized, and appropriated by clergy, laity, and other mendicant orders, is traced in the great textual and musical variety of the works included on this disk.

This CD presents some of some of the best-known works from the Renaissance, recorded by Vox Luminis and originally included in various boxed sets on historical themes (Flemish Polyphony, Reformation and Counter-Reformation, Music in Europe at the time of the Renaissance) that Ricercar has released over the last years.

Jordi Savall - Carlos V - Mille Regretz: La Cancion Del Emperador (2000) {Alia Vox AV 9814}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 361 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 180 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 78 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2000 Alia Vox | AV 9814
Classical / Renaissance / Medieval / Choral / Instrumental Music

Jordi Savall has brought us yet another treasure on his own Alia Vox label, this time a mixed bag of music by Reformation Era composers and a handful of slightly earlier works. It’s all taken from a concert program Savall gave last year under the aegis of “greatest hits of the court of Charles V”. The composers presented are mostly court musicians for that Holy Roman Emperor, but Josquin and Heinrich Isaac also are included, the latter as a nod to Charles’ grandfather, Maximilian I, who was responsible for getting Charles the crown. Savall combines his first-rate instrumental ensemble, updated to Hespèrion XXI, with his own vocal group, La Capella Reial de Catalunya. The results are captivating. Savall’s musicians are tops in the field, and their collective talents, constantly on display in this varied program, are simply a joy to hear.

Alexander Campkin is renowned as a leading young choral composer who has been commissioned by some of the most prestigious musical organisations in Britain. True Light reveals the energy and majestic sound world that he commands, as well as qualities of reflective intimacy. His Missa Brevis was inspired by seeing a beam of sunlight pierce a cloud of moving incense, the resultant music being built around a sustained pitch, ebbing and flowing. In The First Kiss, he sets two poignant and daring Epigrams by the Greek philosopher Strato.

Although there are only four securely authentic motets attributed to him, Johannes Ockeghem (c.1420-1497) makes a definite impact on this style. The three settings of standard Marian texts, Alma Redemptoris mater, Ave Maria, and Salve Regina show Ockeghem's amazing array of 4-point counterpoint in what would otherwise be fairly typical settings of the era (aside from the lack of a cantus firmus in Ave Maria, also the one non-antiphon of the group). The massive 5-voice Intemerata Dei Mater uses a composite text, rather than a liturgical one, apparently put together by Ockeghem himself. It has a particularly low scoring, and an even more forceful impact, quoting motives he also used in the 5-voice mass torso Fors seulement and the 4-voice Missa Mi-Mi. Finally, Ut heremita solus is a probable work, surviving without a text, and showing some idiomatic instrumental thinking.

Johann Caspar Kerll & Johann Joseph Fux - Requiems - Vox Luminis, Lionel Meunier (2016) {Ricercar Official Digital Download}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44kHz - Official Digital Download (qobuz.com) -> 300 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 179 Mb | Artwork (pdf+jpg) | 5% repair rar
© 2016 Ricercar / Outhere Music | RIC 368
Classical / Baroque / Choral / Sacred Vocal Music

This recording presents two Austrian requiems of totally different character. Johann Joseph Fux wrote his Requiem in 1720 for the funeral of Eleonora von Neuburg, widow of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II. Composed by a musician reputed for his theoretical skill, it impresses with the quality of the polyphonic writing combined with a very rich instrumental fabric comprising cornetts, trombones and bassoon in addition to violins, instruments also benefiting from concertante interventions.