Vox Command

"La Biblia" is the second and most popular album of Argentine rock band Vox Dei, originally issued in 1971 as a double vinyl LP by Disc Jockey, a small local company that boasted the slogan "the young label". This is a conceptual album (also deemed a rock opera) where the biblical theme is developed, from Genesis (Génesis) to Revelation (Apocalipsis), with inspired songwriting, and a mixture of blues rock and hard rock a la Led Zeppelin with beautiful acoustic sequences, also including some jam band excursions (Las guerras), and poems penned by guitarist Ricardo Soulé, often inspired by the book itself. In spite of its technical defects and dated sound, "La Biblia" is yet an excellent rock album, and the quality of the music contained is above average, making up an imperfect, pretentious, little masterpiece.

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…

Henry Purcell's King Arthur, or The British Worthy, occupies the small genre of English semi-operas, i.e., stage works in which the most of the main characters speak dialogue, but songs, choruses, and incidental music provide commentary on the action. This 2018 performance by Lionel Meunier and the period ensemble Vox Luminis presents King Arthur without speaking parts, so the music is continuous and complete on two CDs, and displays the variety of musical forms and effects Purcell employed to make John Dryden's somewhat confusing play – a mixture of Norse and British mythology – come to life.

The Brockes-Passion can be considered the archetype of the German Passion oratorio. As such, it served as a model and source ofinspiration for famous later masterpieces, enjoying uninterrupted popularity throughout the 18th century when no less than 11 composers, including Handel and Telemann, set it to music. The superb version by Reinhard Keiser (1674-1739) is not only the first but also adheres most closely to the great rhetorical power and rich changes of affects of the poets text. In German literary history, Barthold Heinrich Brockes (1680-1747) is known above all for his innovative role during the second quarter of the 18th century.

The Belgian early music group Vox Luminis has made several wonderful recordings of lesser-known Baroque repertory. They cultivate a distinctive sound with ten or 15 singers (here there are ten) and a small instrumental group, diverging completely from the general Italianate-operatic trend toward brisk tempos, sharp accents, and dramatic conceptions. Here they take on two very familiar works and meet the challenge of creating unique interpretations. Even in the splendid Bach Magnificat in D major, BWV 243 (sample one of the big choruses, perhaps "Fecit potentiam"), they are smooth and even delicate. The sound is all the more impressive in that leader Lionel Meunier does not really conduct; he sings in the choir itself. Yet the carefully burnished sound is extremely coherent. The effect is to deliver a personal aspect even to these highly public works. In this kind of reading there is the necessity for the performers to deliver text intelligibility and for the instrumentalists to deliver balance, and all succeed nicely, as do Alpha Classics' engineers, working in a pair of churches (Belgian for the Handel, Dutch for the Bach). This is a beautifully rendered representation of standard repertory that draws you into entirely new ways of looking at the music.

Vox is an Ann Arbor, MI-based early music ensemble that is performing a cappella Renaissance choral works in a part of the world where just recently they were hard to hear in person. Josquin and the Lost Generation is their debut recording. The disc contains an attractive and interesting program that does a fine job introducing audiences to the live stylistic issues of the early sixteenth century.

Samuel Scheidt was one of the most interesting Lutheran composers of the early 17th century. Like his famous contemporary Heinrich Schütz, he combined the polyphonic tradition with the new styles from Italy. His Cantiones Sacrae for eight voices mark the summit of Renaissance musical style; even though Protestant chorales are integrated into the work, Scheidt does not hesitate to use expressive effects that originated in the Italian madrigal style.

The record Pato (Dam) depicts the power of singing together: the happiness of belonging and being united, the comfort of liberation from difficult feelings, the delight of sharing joy, and empowerment even amid difficult challenges. Singing together makes you stop in the very moment to experience beauty. The songs on the record flow through moments of refuge, otherness and loneliness into being united with oneself, the other and nature. The process of making this record also underlines the power of singing: a major part of the practice work took place in the times of isolation on spring 2020, due to restrictions on singing together caused by the pandemic.

The winner of numerous prestigious prizes, including several Gramophone Awards, the vocal ensemble Vox Luminis, founded by Lionel Meunier in 2004, is now regarded as a benchmark in the interpretation of the great works of German Baroque music. Its unfailingly faithful and lively approach to such masters as Bach, Buxtehude and Scheidt has made the group’s reputation, but this new recording features a major work by Heinrich Biber, a composer hitherto absent from its discography: his Requiem in F minor for 14 voices, composed around 1692. The programme is completed by two sacred works by Christoph Bernhard (Herr, nun lässest du deinen Diener in Friede fahren and Tribularer si nescirem misericordias tuas), two pieces by Johann Joseph Fux, and the Sonata a 6 in A minor of Johann Michael Nicolai.