Early Music - The Best 1,000 Years of My Life

Just going through my record collection, I also have a bunch of recordings by the Deller Consort (at least 6 of those) and then third place goes to New York Pro Musica. Then there is a variety of groups, with 1 or 2 records each, from both the US and Europe. Love every one of these, as it was through repreated listening (and not much fore knowledge) that I learned what early music was. Generally, the performances are more refined now as current groups have built on what the pioneers accomplished.

 

I don't get out much, but last night I was very fortunate to hear Stile Antico perform on their current American tour.
This is a lovely choral group and their program this time consisted of a recital of sweet English songs (mostly) from the age of Shakespeare.



They have quite a number of videos up on youtube... though I do like this informal recital they did for National Public
Radio some years back:

 

Greatly enjoying Marlow and the Trinity Choir's beautiful rendition of Byrd this evening. The album is evidently discontinued but available on spotify!



Edit - although new hard copies are pricey on amazon through private sellers, it looks like hd flacs are still available for purchase at reasonable rates. Anyone ever use this site before? https://us.7digital.com/artist/rich...ones-sacrae-book-i-and-ii-excerpts?origin=www

 

I've browsed 7digital.com, but haven't yet made a purchase. For comparison (in US Dollars) the 24/96 download is $15.49 on 7digital, $17.50 at Presto Classical, and about $20.10 at The Classical Shop. So you may have put your finger on exactly the best price for the high res version.

Chandos themselves will cut you a CD-R via their archive service.... but that still comes in at about 20+ USD for 16/44.1.

 

A lot of posts seem to have been deleted from this thread? I apologize if this has already been posted:



Other albums by Marcel Peres and Ensemble Organum that I've enjoyed:

• Corsican from Franciscan Manuscripts, a few samples below. This album can be difficult to find anymore.
  • Tantum Ergo:
    
    
  • Sanctus:
    
    
  • Laeta Devote:
    
• Templiers (esp. the Salve Regina; I think this video cuts off about 4 and a half minutes early though...)
  

I own a few others by this group but the above are those that I would recommend.

 

Oh these are nice -- what a full sound! I haven't heard Ensemble Organum before so these make a lovely introduction.

Yes, unfortunately some posts have faded away. I can only hope they may re-emerge (reincarnate? re-surface? ) in the future.

 

Welcome back.

 

Welcome back @MoatsArt!

We should continue the newbie classical music intro thread when you got time.

I listened to Palestrina's Missa Papa Marcelli for the upteenth time today by Tallis scholars. I keep discovering new insights within this piece every single time I listen to it.



Whilst I am more into post-1600 music, earlier music feels like a breath of fresh air in similar vein to modern music.

 

Welcome back, @MoatsArt !

Savall is mind-boggling in his learning and achievements. Uber-guru, indeed. And you know, it is not
automatic for the learned to also produce such lovely music -- and I conclude that he must have both
a great mind and a great spirit.

 

Isn't this nice? I've become a fan of Stile Antico; young, energetic, and yet measured.

Cassettes were quite a wonderful thing in their day. Thanks to the Sony Walkman and the built-in players in many decades of cars,
they were the portability solution of their day. Even my 2001 VW Jetta still sports a cassette player... which I still sometimes use.
Of course, nowadays we want bluetooth and usb connections.

In car trips long past, I had collections of folksong, choral works, band recordings as well as pop, rock, and opera. In the
right mood, opera can allow you to cross continents. Yet I remember fondly mixtapes of Nowell Sing we All, Maddy Prior,
Pentangle, The Beers Family, and Joan Baez. Folk music yielded its own wonder by overlaying the old ballads
on a new landscape now crossed by paved highways and turnpikes.

Somehow the cassette format was just right for this -- easy to record,
easy to slot in and the eject. I've many fond memories and I can recall crossing Arizona deserts at night,
the temperatures still so hot that only an equally hot Bulgarian wedding band was sufficient to get me through.

 

Beautiful, isn't it? I remember getting this recording immediately when it came out... and true to form, Harmonia Mundi
does a wonderful job with all the technical aspects. Sure it's easy to say that, "we'll just record this in an
old church and it will sound wonderful." However, that sometimes means blurring of the vocal subtleties along with the spatial
effects of the chamber. I like the balance they get here. And it is wonderful music.

 

You can't really go wrong with the Tallis Scholars. They are a gift.

Also note their 25th anniversary discs (physical or as download) on the Gimell site: http://www.gimell.com/catalogue.aspx?filter=25th-anniversary-editions

If you choose to download, then each of these is $6.99 US. And for those who do not already have a copy of Allegri's Miserere, then why not get this one: http://www.gimell.com/recording-Allegri---Miserere-25th-Anniversary-Edition-.aspx. It also bundles Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli.

 

Did @MoatsArt just fall off a cliff again?

 

Music is my TARDIS and I've just returned from a journey to late Renaissance Spain:

 

Un-Bosoned

 

With the holidays fast approaching, I thought some of you might appreciate what has quickly become one of my favorite Christmas albums, including quite a few beautifully recorded carols from pre 1650 (e.g. personet hodie, ding dong merrily on high, in dulci jubilo etc.) Richard Marlow evidently recorded these tracks in the late 80's and early 90's at Trinity, but the two disk album was only released last year.

For $8, with a free instant digital copy, you can't go wrong. https://www.amazon.com/Great-Britis...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=MERCM0FEJ29EA290JXQC

It is also up on Spotify and Youtube - playlist link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgQirWPRU5yJaBoedjmGdllnxfg8aSwd9

 

Ah, that's great. And I see that LA REVERDIE has been around for 30 years; I am just not keeping up.

 

Reading back on dubiousmike's post I realize that this is a time of year when many are listening to early music through these ancient carols. Our local station just finished a set of carols from Altramar Medieval Music Ensemble. Lovely.

 

I have been spending alot of time listening to A Musicall Dreame by Robert Jones on Hyperion. These medieval songs are sung by 2 counter-tenors. They interleaving of the 2 voices are amazing. The song Hark! Wot ye What? is perhaps my favorite on the disk.

http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W13532_GBAJY9033507

The disc can be downloaded from the Hyperion web site. I was lucky enough to pick up an original copy of the CD from ebay. Sublime music....