This latest release from Singer Pur features music by Ludwig Senfl. The vocal ensemble blends five male voices with a soprano. It gives Senfl’s music a brightness I’m not used to hearing — but I like very much. Ludwig Senfl studied with Heinrich Isaac and was active in the early 1500s. He was music director […]
renaissance music
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La Compagnia del Madrigale completes Gesualdo cycle
Carlo Gesualdo murdered his wife and her lover. That’s pretty much all most people know about this Renaissance composer — if anything. This release presents Gesualdo’s first book of madrigals. It was published around the time of the murders. There’s no question Gesualdo was a tortured soul. He abused both his first and second wives. […]
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The Dryades Consort deliver Caspar Othmayr’s Gifts
Caspar Othmayr was a theologian and composer of the early Protestant church. His 1549 Tricinia in pias offers a selection of musical virtues that address eight vices. The Dryades Consort uses this for a program celebrating both the vices and virtues. While Othmayr’s music provides the foundation, the consort pulls from other contemporary sources. There’s a significant […]
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An Elizabethan Christmas – Fretwork’s gift to all
Fretwork marks its 35th anniversary with this holiday release. Although “holiday release” hardly describes this album. The celebration of Christmas was quite different than it is today. In fact, it was quite different from the Victorian Christmas traditions that now define the holiday. Advent, the time leading up to Christmas, was a time for mediation, […]
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¡Sacabuche! Reveals Hidden Treasures from Bohemia
The early music ensemble ¡Sacabuche! presents a collection of music from the Habsburg Court. Giovanni Valenti, Antonio Bertali, and Pavel Josef Vejvonovsky may not be well-known today. But in the 1640s Bohemia, they were renowned for their instrumental virtuosity and composing skills. ¡Sacabuche! delivers some first-rate performances of this music. In addition to violin, theorbo, […]
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Fiori Musicali Return to Renaissance Roots
According to the liner notes, the purpose of this release is to “uncover the fine thread of cultural exchange between high art music and popular music tradition.” Sure, I could hear that. You can also enjoy this release as a great collection of early music hits. I use the word “hits,” because many of these […]
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William Tisdale Music for Virginal unusual fare
There are plenty of Renaissance keyboard recordings floating around. So what makes this release special. Three things: the music, the performer, and the instrument. The music is mostly from Tisdales Virginal Book, supplemented with selections from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book. Very little is known about William Tisdale, save that he was a composer and keyboardist […]
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Porfeti della Quinta perfectly perform Philippe Verdelot
Philippe Verdelot one of the composers credited with developing the Italian madrigal. Though French, he spent most of his professional life in Florence. His publications spread throughout Europe and set the model for this Renaissance vocal form. Verdelot wrote mostly five- and six-voice madrigals. This release features some of his less-common four-voice madrigals. They were […]
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Ensemble Almara with the best of Carmina Predulcia
There are collectors for everything — even information. Take Hartmann Schedel (1449-1514) for example. He amassed a collection of over 600 volumes comprising all the knowledge of his day. He compiled the Schedel Song Book not so much out of a love for music, but just to collect and record the information. The Schedel Song Book […]