Birds on Fire - Jewish Music for Viols

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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




Non dimenticare...
Ne pas oublier...
Don't forget...
No se olvide...
Не забудьте...
Vergessen Sie nicht...
Não se esqueça...


27-01-2016

Royal Rhymes and Rounds

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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

Francesco Cavalli - Heroines of the Venetian Baroque

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The opening of Venice’s first opera house, the Teatro di San Cassiano, in 1637, was one of the major events in the history of opera. The protagonists of these new operas henceforth represented all the social categories making up this public and who, in fact, had to be able to find themselves onstage. The gods were no longer the only ones to lay down the law, challenged by the Vices and Virtues who preached in the Prologues. The new heroes are kings, emperors, dictators, courtesans, as well as nurses, valets, soldiers, philosopher, and, above all, lovers. Whoever they might be, we find them sympathetic or antipathetic; all are glorified, all are ridiculed.

With his 27 existing operas, Francesco Cavalli gives us a fascinating version of this theatre of life. A single main thread runs through the excerpts drawn from each of them by Leonardo García Alarcón: the expression of human passions. They are all there, from ingenuousness to ecstasy, joy to anger, passionate love (and its erotic, sensual expression) to despair. This fascinating programme represents a new contribution to the knowledge of Cavalli’s operas and allows for unveiling part of the mystery still surrounding his works.

Jérôme Lejeune, Ricercar's artistic director, tells you all about the genesis of this project here!

contents:

Disc 1

Le nozze di Teti di Peleo

1 - Atto II: Scena 11: Mira questi duo lumi

2 - Atto II: Scena 6: Sinfonia di viole a 5

3 - Atto I: Scena 3: Hor con pania e con esca

Gli amori di Apollo e Dafne

4 - Atto I: Scena 8: Volgi, deh volgi il piede

Didone

5 - Atto II: Scena 2: Didone, ohimè, non riceve amante

6 - Atto II: Scena 2: Re de' Getuli altero

La virtù dei strali d'Amore

7 - Atto I: Scena 3: Occhi per pianger nati

Egisto

8 - Atto III: Scena 10: Amanti, se credete

L'Ormindo

9 - Atto: Scena 3: Aprite, aprite gl'occhi

La Doriclea

10 - Atto I: Scena 6: Udite, amanti

Giasone

11 - Atto I: Scena 15: Dell'antro magico

12 - Atto II: Scena 1: Lamento: Lassa, che far degg'io?

Orimonte

13 - Atto III: Scena 12: Caro Ernesto / Mia Cleanta (instrumental version)

Oristeo

14 - Atto I: Scena 4: Dimmi Amor, che farò?

La Rosinda

15 - Atto I: Scena 7: Non col ramo di Cuma

La Calisto

16 - Atto III: Scena I: Restino imbalsamate

17 - Atto III: Scena I: T'aspetto, e tu non viem

L'Eritrea

18 - Prologo: Ne le grotte arimaspe

La Veremonda

19 - Atto III: Scena 6: Tardano molto? Qui si fa il ballo de' tori

20 - Atto III: Scena 6: Che rumori, che voci? Qui se replica il ballo de' tori

Disc 2

L'Orione

1 - Prologo: Sinfonia a 3

Il Ciro

2 - Atto III: Scena ultima: Mia vita / Mio bene

Xerse

3 - Atto II: Scena 18: Ed é pur vero, o core

4 - Atto II: Scena 18: Luci mic, che miraste

Erismena

5 - Atto I: Scena 4: Speranze voi che siete

6 - Atto I: Scena 5: O stelle, a chi mi sforzate

7 - Atto I: Scena 5: A me il veleno?

La Statira

8 - Atto II: Scena 9: Menfi, mia patria, regno

Artemisia

9 - Atto II: Scena 6: Regina, udiste mai

Hipermestra

10 - Atto III: Scena 14: Quest'e un gran caso a; certo

Elena

11 - Atto II: Scena 14: Amazone non son

Xerse

12 - Atto II: Scena 1: Speranze, fermate (instrumental version)

Ercole Amante

13 - Atto IV: Scena 7: Una stila di speme (instrumental version)

14 - Atto I: Scena 3: E vuol dunque Ciprigna

15 - Atto I: Scena 3: ma in amor ciò ch'altri fura

Scipione affricano

16 - Atto III: Scena 3: A tuo dispetto Amor (instrumental version)

Mutio Scevola

17 - Atto I: Scena 7: Né fasto allor che ride / Né dolente allor che freme

Pompeo Magno

18 - Atto I: Scena 17: Come al mar corrono i fiumi

Eliogabalo

19 - Atto III: Scena 2: Giuliano al tuo ferro

20 - Atto III, Scena 15: Pur ti stringo, pur t'annodo

Mariana Flores

Anna Reinhold

Cappella Mediterranea

dir. Leonardo García Alarcón

Carlo Milanuzzi - Arias and Dances

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This CD is entirely devoted to the music of the early Baroque Italian composer, poet and organist, Carlo Milanuzzi. During his lifetime, Milanuzzi's fame spread far and wide; today, however, he is shrouded in obscurity. The artists hope that this recording - the first dedicated to his music - will contribute to the rediscovery of one of the most significant Italian musicians of the 17th century.

Indeed, it seems that Milanuzzi enjoyed a veritable 'pop star' status back in his day. In addition to masses, motets and psalms, he also wrote nearly 200 songs (brought together in nine books entitled Le Ariose Vaghezze which were published between 1622 and 1643), works which reveal him to be one of the most progressive monodists of his generation, clearly intent on reaching as wide an audience as possible.

The arias to be found in the nine volumes, 13 of which feature on this recording, are mostly short, tuneful pieces in the style that was rapidly gaining popularity in northern Italy in the 1620s. They are complemented by instrumental dances written in guitar 'alfabeto' notation, 'expanded' on this recording by way of a larger ensemble.

contents:

E pur ancora lusingando vai

Amate mie stelle

Lilla, mio cor

Vado altronde, Lidia, addio

Ballo delle torce

Vanne, và, ti fida o mio core

Bergamasca

Sì dolce è il tormento

Vedilo, vedilo là

Togliti dagli occhi miei

Battaglia

Rapitemi, feritemi

Amor, altri si duol

Padoana

Non si scherzi con Amore

Fuggi, fuggi dolente core

Alla Donna sol piace

Ciaccona

Lucia Sciannimanico, mezzo-soprano

Cappella di Santa Maria degli Angiolini

dir. Gian Luca Lastraioli

Bitter Ballads

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"Ancient and modern poetry set to medieval and traditional melodies," says the subtitle to this disc and it's not as unusual an idea as it might seem: fitting a pre-existing melody to new words, far from being an invention of television advertising, has been done at least since the Middle Ages. Baritone Paul Hillier has revived this practice, pairing troubadour and traditional tunes with poetry ranging from Sappho to Swift and Blake to Brecht. The effect is that of a polished folk song recital but with a more jaundiced tone: these really are "bitter ballads." Hillier's diction could be sharper (you may want to read the poems through before you listen), but his discerning choices and sensitive delivery, along with the exquisite playing of harpist Andrew Lawrence-King, make this innovative program fascinating and even moving."  Matthew Westphal

contents:

1 - Clever Tom Clinch Going to be Hanged

2 - The Roundhead

3 - London is a Fine Town

4 - London

5 - The Fine Old English Gentleman

6 - The Great Testament

7 - Highland Dance #1

8 - Kiltory

9 - Highland Dance #2

10 - Shallow-Water Warning

11 - Song for a Sea Tower

12 - The Ballad of Marie Farrar

13 - Senza Licenza

14 - Invention

15 - Fine Flowers in the Valley

16 - Sappho - Fragment

17 - The Keel Row I

18 - It Was Summer Now

19 - The Keel Row II

20 - Disillusionment

21 - The Cockfight

22 - Sailing to Byzantium

23 - Brigg Fair

24 - Coda from Brigg-Flatts

Paul Hillier, voice

Andrew Lawrence-King, harps, psaltery 

O dulcis amor

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For the first time in history, the 17th century opened up a vast area of musical activities for female artists as the Renaissance philosophy had established a new place for women in society. In his Il libro del Cortegiano (1528), Baldassare Castiglione presented them as gracious and beautiful, equally cultured in literature as men, as well as educated in dance and music, accomplished in conversational skills, intelligent and entertaining. Life at the courts provided for the donne di palazzo a veritable opportunity to liberate themselves. The new role that was bestowed on women might even have added to the growing sophistication of lifestyle in the 16th century, which was greatly articulated in the promotion of the arts and in the implicit prescriptions for social behaviour. Erasmus revered in his Encomium matrimonii (1518) the blissful union of husband and wife, and the general trend of Neo-Platonism led to a new interest in women, which greatly surpassed their thus far expected role as child bearers to continue the family name, and their rigid position in domestic life. However, only the higher classes in society enjoyed these privileges. Christian tradition was deeply anchored in the common perception of women as unfaithful seductresses, foolish and impetuous. Consequently, women remained the subject of much ridicule and scepticism. The imposing voice of Vespasiano da Bisticci is effortlessly recalled, instructing women to live by the two chief commandments of the apostle Paul: to raise their children as devoted Christians and to keep silent at church. The status from which certain women benefited at the end of the Renaissance was in many ways a compromise between the conservative Christian tradition, strengthened by the Council of Trente (1545-1563), and the humanist objective of equality between male and female.

contents:

Caterina Assandra - Imple os nostrum

Caterina Assandra - Ave verum corpus

Caterina Assandra - Haec dies

Caterina Assandra - Ego flos campi

Caterina Assandra - O dulcis amor Iesu

Vittoria Aleotti - Hor che la vaga Aurora

Vittoria Aleotti - Cor mio perche pur piangi

Vittoria Aleotti - Mentre l'ardite labbia

Francesca Caccini - Per la più vaga e bella

Francesca Caccini - Lasciatemi qui solo

Barbara Strozzi - L'amante bugiardo

Barbara Strozzi - Amor dormiglione

Barbara Strozzi - Sete pur fastidioso

Barbara Strozzi - L'eraclito amoroso

Isabella Leonarda - Sonata duodecima, Op. 16

Isabella Leonarda - Iam diu dilecte mi Iesu

La Villanella Basel

Heike Pichler-Trosits, soprano

Claudia Nauheim, recorder

Irene Klein, viola da gamba

Mechthild Winter, virginal, organ

Petra Burmann, theorbo

Baroque Music from Finland

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Opus X is one of the leading Finnish early music ensembles and has made concert appearances and recordings of ground-breaking importance on the Finnish early music scene. Founded on the initiative of violinist Petri Tapio Mattson in 1995, it initially focused on chamber music ranging from early Italian Baroque to Haydn and Mozart quartets.

contents:

Anonymous: Kappaleita soolohuilulle Gabriel Hanneliuksen nuottikirjasta (1770-luku?)

1 Menuett (nro 10)

2 Menuett (nro 6)

Hammerschmidt, Andreas (1611/12-1675): Sei nun wieder zufrieden, meine Seele (1639)

Anonymous: Kappaleita 1–2 diskanttisoittimelle ja basso continuolle Isaac Wasbohmin nuottikirjasta (1694):

4 Allemand (nro 96)

5 Saraband (nro 8)

6 Poloness (nro 29)

7 Gavott l’amour (nro 26)

8 Minuett (nro 83)

Düben, Gustav: En kort Bröllop-Sång (Lyhykäinen häälaulu) (1690)

Anonymous: Kappaleita cembalolle Katarina Öhrbomin nuottikirjasta (1759):

10 Menuette (nro 9)

11 Marche (nro 4)

12 Polonoise (nro 14)

Kappaleita soolohuilulle Gabriel Hanneliuksen nuottikirjasta:

13 Gigue (nro 11)

14 Menuett (nro 23)

Kappaleita 1–2 diskanttisoittimelle ja basso continuolle Isaac Wasbohmin nuottikirjasta:

15 Leya Allemand (nro 98)

16 Air (nro 53)

17 Gavotte (nro 63)

18 Poloness & proportio (nro 90)

19 Minuet (nro 79)

Kappaleita cembalolle Katarina Öhrbomin nuottikirjasta:

20 Petzin (nro 3)

21 Anti Melancholie (nro 8)

Palm, Zachris: Een Lijten Fröghde-Sång (Pikkuruinen ilolaulu) (1678):

Anonymous: Kappaleita 1–2 diskanttisoittimelle ja basso continuolle Isaac Wasbohmin nuottikirjasta:

23 Gavotte (nro 86)

24 Minuet (nro 80) / Minuet (nro 94)

25 Rigadon (nro 75)

26 Poloness (nro 91)

27 Minuet (nro 82)

Hammerschmidt, Andreas: Es danken dir, Gott, die Völker (1642):

Anonymous: Kappaleita soolohuilulle Gabriel Hanneliuksen nuottikirjasta:

29 Menuett (nro 22)

30 (Gigue) (nro 15)

Roman, Johan Helmich (1694-1758): Sonaatti D-duuri viululle ja basso continuolle (1727)

Anonymous: Kappaleita soolohuilulle Gabriel Hanneliuksen nuottikirjasta:

35 Menuett (nro 3)

36 Menuett (nro 19)

Tuuli Lindeberg, soprano

OPUS X Ensemble

Le Concert Secret des Dames de Ferrare

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In the last two decades of the sixteenth century, Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, supported an extraordinary professional trio of women singers and instrumentalists and engaged some of the leading composers of the time to write for them. The trio, known as Concerto delle Dame di Ferrara, performed only music that had been written exclusively for them, and only privately, for the most scrupulously vetted audiences. Perhaps the group's most remarkable legacy is the effect its performances had on Carlo Gesualdo, who spent a year and a half working with it and who wrote that the group's influence radically altered his views on harmony. Most of the repertoire for the group has been lost, but two of the ensemble's composers, Luzzasco Luzzaschi and Ludovico Agostini, published collections of madrigals after the Duke's death, and this CD is made up largely of their work for one, two, or three voices, with instrumental accompaniment. The music is characterized by an intense expressivity, harmonic freedom, and, in some pieces, almost freakishly demanding ornamentation. At the same time, it's consistently lyrical and gratifyingly written for the voice. The sound of the two or three women's voices in gorgeously interwoven contrapuntal lines, the astonishing harmonies, and the florid embellishments give the music an immediate appeal; anyone who loves Gesualdo's madrigals will find much to savor here. The performances by the ensemble Doulce Mémoire, led by Denis Raisin-Dadre, are consistently top notch. Sopranos Véronique Bourin, Axelle Bernage, and Christel Boiron sing with tonal purity and warmth, a beautiful blend, and great passion, and they are ably accompanied by an ensemble consisting of lute, harp, gamba, and harpsichord. The sound is clear, clean, and intimate.

contents:

1 - Non sa che sia dolore, madrigal for 3 women's voices & continuo

Luzzasco Luzzaschi

2 - Cor mio, deh non languire, madrigal for 2 women's voices & continuo

Luzzasco Luzzaschi

2: - Campai contento, for lute, harp & continuo

Giulio Cesare Barbetta

4 - I' mi son giovinetta, madrigal for 2 women's voices & continuo

Luzzasco Luzzaschi

5 - Ecco col nostro Duca, for 3 women's voices & continuo

Lodovico Agostini

6 - Qual e maggior, madrigal for 3 women's voices & continuo

Lodovico Agostini

7 - Una si chiara luce, madrigal for 3 women's voices & continuo (from Enigmi musicali)

Lodovico Agostini

8 - Balletto de Contadini Lombardi, for lute

Giulio Cesare Barbetta

9 - Tu che girando, for 3 women's voices & continuo

Lodovico Agostini

10 - T'amo mia vita, madrigal for 3 women's voices & continuo

Luzzasco Luzzaschi

11 - Fantasia a quattro sopra Ave maris stella, for harp

Luzzasco Luzzaschi

12 - Aura soave, for voice and continuo

Luzzasco Luzzaschi

13 - Quel canto oime, for 3 women's voices & continuo

Lodovico Agostini

14 - Toccata del Quarto Tono for organ

Luzzasco Luzzaschi

15 - Ch'io non t'ami cor mio, for voice & continuo

Luzzasco Luzzaschi

16 - O dolcezze amarissime, madrigal for 3 voices & continuo

Lodovico Agostini

17 - Mentre l'argute sue dolci parole, madrigal for 2 women's voices & continuo

Lodovico Agostini

18 - Contrapuncto primo, for lute, harp & continuo

Lodovico Agostini

19 - Stral pungente d'amore, for 2 women's voices & continuo

Luzzasco Luzzaschi

20 -Questa ch'el cor, for lute, harp & continuo

Lodovico Agostini

21 - Se parti io moro, madrigal (Book 5) for voice & continuo

Luzzasco Luzzaschi

22 - Il nostro vago, for lute, harp & continuo

Lodovico Agostini

23 - Vago augellin, madrigal for 3 women's voices & continuo (from Enigmi musicali)

Lodovico Agostini

24 - Deh vieni ormai cor mio, madrigal for 2 women's voices & continuo

Luzzasco Luzzaschi

25 - Ne la beata vespa, for lute, harp & continuo (from Enigmi musicali)

Lodovico Agostini

26 - Troppo ben può, madrigal for 3 women's voices & continuo

Luzzasco Luzzaschi

Doulce Mémoire

Denis Raisin-Dadre

Vivaldi Premieres: Violin Concertos & Sonatas

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This Premieres program dedicated to Antonio Vivaldi features six of the composers violin concerti, in whole or in part, three being world premiere recordings, and three with part reconstructions by Olivier Fourés. Violinist Lina Tur Bonet, a professor at Conservatorio Superior in Zaragoza, is concertmistress of Musica Alchemica. The ensemble has performed Bibers Rosary Sonatas in Vienna and Spain, and Four Seasons by both Vivaldi and Piazzolla. In addition, the ensemble has performed Bachs violin concertos and music from Spain and 17th c. Venice at various European festivals.

contents:

Violin Concerto in D Major, RV 218

Violin Sonata in C Minor, RV 7

Violin Concerto in A Major, RV 346

Violin Concerto in C Minor, RV 771 (arr. of RV 5)

Violin Sonata in D Major, RV 11

Violin Concerto in C Minor, Op. 11, No. 5, RV 202: II. Largo

(Dresden version, ornamentation by J.G. Pisendel)

Lisa Tur Bonet

Musica Alchemica

Love, Revelry and the Dance in Mediaeval Music

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Millenarium is an early-music instrumental ensemble directed by organist Christophe Deslignes and percussionist Thierry Gomar. Personnel on the albums listed above have ranged from just the pair ( The Masters of the Florentine Organetto , on Trecento organ music) to seven musicians ( Libre Vermell, Danza ) with other groups added for specific projects ( Libre Vermell, Carmina Burana: Officium Lusorum , etc.). Millenarium has focused on the late medieval/early Renaissance end of the early-music spectrum in the 13th and 14th centuries, paying particular attention to the scholarly reconstruction of music based on surviving commentaries, images, and a close study of both classical and folk traditions. None of this conveys the vitality, period sense of style, or improvisational skill that these recordings supply. 

If you aren’t familiar with the group, then taken together, their performances probably come closest to those of the Boston Camerata in terms of program design and stylistic approach. In Joy and Douce amie , longer songs alternate with short dances, and an Arabic influence upon the latter is pronounced. Successive strophes of songs are performed with vocal improvisation and without instrumental shifts in the accompaniment, though Deslignes writes of “light cutting” to avoid monotony for modern audiences. (There’s much debate over whether troubadours and trouvères varied ornamentation or accompaniment during lengthy songs, but evidence is lacking for any conclusions—and indeed, may never have existed. Variations in performance over time and place may well have existed.) Although spoken word isn’t used as binder as the Boston Camerata does, there is a palpable sense of theater in most of these albums, in the sense of the spectator/listener being drawn in to a highly expressive, self-referential world. 

The most distinctive of the included albums in this respect is the Carmina Burana: Officium Lusorum disc. Where the Carmina Burana: Tempus transit… album is concerned with philosophy, and sacred and secular love, Officium Lusorum attempts (with the assistance of research by Pierre-Emmanuel Guilleray) to recreate a Mass of the Fools—part of the All Fools Day, or Feast of the Fools, that the Roman Catholic Church tolerated while it had to, as an inheritance of the pagan Roman Hilaria Matris Deûm , and then slowly strangled as its secular power base grew. Millenarium sets the framework of their re-creation between Christmas and 12th Night, in 13th-century northern France, by which time the Ordinary of the Mass was considered sacrosanct, and is surrounded here by goliard-inspired parody. The result is an accurate performance of Mass organum, providing the greatest possible contrast to lively dances and satiric literary content, sometimes bitingly so—as in the calling down of God’s curses upon all those, secular and sacred, who are avaricious and refuse to support beggars: “Effunde, domine, iram tuam super avaros et tenaces…” 

The musical side of this humor includes but is not limited to over-elaborate vocal ornamentation, grotesque slurring between notes, gasping breaths between phrases of off-pitch plainchant, foreign cultural interpolations, and folk style improvisations on top of chant. In bloodless print this sounds repetitive and dull, but the performers manage to sustain several cuts of this, among them one lasting 24 minutes. Various groups have recorded similar efforts over the years, most memorably René Clemencic and his Clemencic Consort (currently on Harmonia Mundi 195335), but I find Millenarium’s version just as lively if more dramatic due to internal contrasts with the Ordinary. As always where perceptions of humor are concerned, your mileage may differ. 

I have nothing but praise for Ricercar’s inclusion of the copious cut listings and liner notes from each of the albums, but shouldn’t they have considered adding a contents page? The 111-page, French and English booklet simply offers one album’s listings and notes after another. With no easy method to locate any album save the first, it’s a bit of a chore finding what you want. Texts and translations would have been helpful, as well, both in the Carmina Burana material, and the work of the troubadours and trouvères. That aside, highly recommended. There are no right or wrong ways to perform this music, anachronisms and technical deficiencies to one side, and Millenarium’s way with all of it is both thoroughly researched and refreshingly direct. 

FANFARE: Barry Brenesal

contents:

1. Carmina burana: no 215, Officium Lusorum by Anonymous 

2. Totz altres joys, song by Anonymous 

3. A que as cousas coitadas, song by Cantigas de Sa Anonymous 

4. Trotto, dance for instrumental ensemble by Anonymous 

5. La Quarte Estampie Royal by Anonymous 

6. L'autrier jost'una sebissa by Marcabru 

7. La sirena by Anonymous 

8. Principio di virtù, istanpitta by Anonymous 

9. La Manfredina et la Rota by Anonymous 

10. Saltarello No 4 by Anonymous 

11. La Septime Estampie Real by Anonymous 

12. Danse Anglaise by Anonymous 

13. Saltarello No. 8 (GB-LBl Add.29987) by Anonymous 

14. Nota manta, song by Troubadour Anonymous 

15. Lamento di Tristano & La Rotta by Anonymous 

16. Da che Deus mamou, song by Cantigas de Sa Anonymous 

17. Saltarello "Petits riens" by Anonymous 

18. Amors m'est u cuer entree by Henri III de Brabant 

19. Lamento du Val fourni, song by Richard De Fournival 

20. Ghaetta (An Istampita) (14th cent.) by Anonymous 

21. Llibre Vermell de Montserrat by Anonymous 

22. Procession des pèlerins by Anonymous 

23. Cuncti simus concanentes by Anonymous 

24. Work(s): Inperairitz / Verges ses par (chanson avec envoi à 2 voix) by Anonymous 

25. Kyrie Rex Genitor (for Christmas Midnight Mass) by Anonymous 

26. Res est admirabilis, sequence (polyphony) by Gradual of Ali Anonymous 

27. Ave Maria, offertory by Anonymous 

28. Mariam Matrem Virginem, virelai for 3 voices (Llibre Vermell) by Anonymous 

29. Bal redon, improvisation by Xavier Terrazza 

30. Los Set gotxs recomptarem by Anonymous 

31. Advocatam innocemus by Anonymous 

32. O Virgo splendens, canon for 3 voices (Llibre Vermell) by Anonymous 

33. Danza vermeillosa by Anonymous 

34. Laudemus virginem, canon for 3 voices by Anonymous 

35. Stella splendens in monte, virelai for 2 voices (Llibre Vermell) by Anonymous 

36. Fauvel nous fait présent, motet in 3 parts by Anonymous 

37. Mater patris et filia, offertory by Anonymous 

38. Splendens ceptigera by Anonymous 

39. Polorum Regina by Anonymous 

40. Work(s): Agnus Dei / Ave Maria by Anonymous 

41. Ad Mortem Festinamus, virelai (fol. 26v) by Anonymous 

42. Carmina burana: Excerpt(s) by Anonymous 

43. Carmina Burana: Sic mea fata CB 116 by Anonymous 

44. Carmina burana: no 73, Clauso Chronos by Anonymous 

45. Carmina burana: no 71, Axe Phebus aureo by Anonymous 

46. Carmina burana: no 31, Vite perdite me legi by Anonymous 

47. Carmina burana: no 19, Fas et Nefas by Anonymous 

48. Carmina burana: no 159, Veris dulcis in tempore by Anonymous 

49. Carmina burana: no 153, Tempus transit gelidum by Anonymous 

50. Carmina burana: no 15, Celum non animum by Anonymous 

51. Carmina burana: Dulce solum by Anonymous 

52. Touz eforciez by Anonymous 

53. Rose des rosaces by Anonymous 

54. Pour coi me bait by Anonymous 

55. Li nouviauz tanz by Anonymous 

56. la tierche Estampie royale by Anonymous 

57. Improvisation by Anonymous 

58. Estampie janus by Anonymous 

59. Estampida arnautz by Anonymous 

60. Douce Dame by Anonymous 

61. Dame, ensinc est by Anonymous 

62. Ce fut en mai by Anonymous 

63. Au renouvel du tens by Anonymous 

64. Amours, ou trop tard by Anonymous 

65. Danca Amorosa by Anonymous 

66. Can vei le lauzta mover by Bernart de Ventadorn 

67. Fortz causa es que tot lo major dan by Gaucelm Faidit 

68. Tan m'abelis jois et amors e chans by Berenguier de Palazol 

69. Jamais nulz tems nom pot re far Amors by Gaucelm Faidit 

Millenarium

Choeur de Chambre de Namur

Psallentes