Birds on Fire - Jewish Music for Viols

25 tracks - MP3 192 Kbps - RAR 112 Mb


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The title of this recording is a quotation from Aaron Appelfeld’s 1939 novel Badenheim. The subtitle, “Jewish Music for Viols”, more accurately describes the contents: Fretwork have also recorded consort music by some of the Jewish composers at the Tudor court – the Bassanos and Lupos – along with two contemporaries in Holland, Philip van Wilder and Leonara Duarte, illustrating the extent to which they set aside the declamatory music of their forefathers in favour of the imitative polyphonic style prevailing in Northern Europe. Even the Venetian “Ebreo” Salamone Rossi borrowed from the Latin motet for his 1622 Songs of Solomon, stilo antico settings with Hebrew texts sung here by Jeremy Avis.
If you’re seeking the exotic, listen to tracks 1, 13 and 24. Orlando Gough, best known for his theatre music, composed Birds on Fire in 1997. This is demanding, wonderfully offbeat music inspired by Ashkenazi Klezmers (more cabaret than camera), which Fretwork brings off with a panache that astonishes and delights. Importantly, it demonstrates the extent to which the viol consort has been circumscribed by its historic – largely amateur – repertoire and suggests that it is capable of far more. Each of the three Gough pieces begins with eerie sounds and is characterised by a kaleidoscope of syncopated ostinati, droll pizzicato asides and sinewy, modal themes conveyed in parallel octaves. You’ll swear you can hear an organ, accordion, clarinet and a saxophone, but you don’t. Fascinating, liberating music!

www.arkivmusic.com

Contents:

Orlando Gough - Birds on fire
Salamone Rossi "Ebreo" - Hashkivenu
Anonymous - Pieces from the Lumley part books
Leonora Duarte - Two Sinfonias in 5 parts
Thomas Lupo - Fantasia in 6 parts
Orlando Gough - Birds on fire
Philip van Wilder - Fantasia con pause e senza pause
Thomas Lupo - Pavan in 3 parts N°26
Thomas Lupo - Fantasia in 5 parts N°5
Thomas Lupo - Fantasia in 6 parts N°9
Augustine Bassano - Pavan & Galliard
Hyeronimus Bassano - Fantasia N°1
Joseph Lupo - Pavana a 5
Thomas Lupo - Fantasia in 6 parts N°4 & N°11
Orlando Gough - Birds on fire
Salamone Rossi "Ebreo" - Shir hamma'alot



Fretwork
Jeremy Avis, voice




Anna Frank




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Vergessen Sie nicht...
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27-01-2016

Royal Rhymes and Rounds

23 tracks - MP3 192 Kbps - RAR 103 Mb

Uploaded - FileFactory

Royal Rhymes and Rounds is the King's Singers' contribution to the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne in 2012. There are ballads, part songs, madrigals, rounds, and anthems written during the reigns of (and some also in honor of) Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Victoria, and Elizabeth II. The music from the times of Henry and Elizabeth I is especially strong since it was the era of a flowering of English song, which then lay relatively dormant for several centuries. The composers include such luminaries as William Cornysh, Orlando Gibbons, John Dowland, and Thomas Weelkes, as well as Henry himself, whose rousing ballad Pastime with good companie opens the album. It's in this transparent repertoire that the group sounds its absolute best. The singers' immaculate intonation, focused tone quality, and sensitive musicianship are remarkable. The plummy tributes to Victoria are significantly less distinguished musically, but the group delivers performances of complete conviction. Elizabeth II is represented by the Choral Dances from Gloriana, the opera Benjamin Britten wrote in honor of her coronation, and here again the material gives the singers the opportunity to dazzle with the beauty, clarity, and liveliness of their tone. The album closes with a piece written especially for the occasion: A Rough Guide to the Royal Succession (It's just one damn King after another…), a witty and informative traversal of monarchs, right up to an irreverent, if not downright disrespectful paean to Elizabeth II and her family, with words and music by Paul Drayton. Signum's sound is clean, detailed, and intimate.

contents:

Pastime with good companie by King Henry VIII

Ah, Robin, gentle Robin by William Cornysh

Blow thy horn, hunter by William Cornysh

It is to me a right great joy by King Henry VIII

Hey, trolly lolly lo by Anonymous

Long live fair Oriana by Ellis Gibbons

The Silver Swan - Round by Orlando Gibbons

The Silver Swan by Orlando Gibbons

Fair Oriana, beauty's Queen by John Hilton

Lightly she whipped o'er the dales by John Mundy

Flow, O my tears by John Dowland

Weep, O mine eyes by John Bennet

As Vesta was from Latmos hill descending by Thomas Weelkes

The Triumph of Victoria by Sir Walter Parratt

Who can dwell with greatness? by Sir Hubert Parry

To her beneath whose steadfast star by Sir Edward Elgar

Time - Choral Dances from Gloriana by Benjamin Britten

Concord - Choral Dances from Gloriana by Benjamin Britten

Time and Concord - Choral Dances from Gloriana by Benjamin Britten

Country Girls - Choral Dances from Gloriana by Benjamin Britten

Rustics and Fishermen - Choral Dances from Gloriana by Benjamin Britten

Final Dance of Homage - Choral Dances from Gloriana by Benjamin Britten

A Rough Guide to the Royal Succession by Paul Drayton

The King's Singers