Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

The acclaimed period ensemble L'Acheron conducted by viola de gambist Francois Joubert-Caillet presents a collection of works from Samuel Scheidt's late Renaissance masterpiece 'Ludi Music'. Scheidt, considered one of the most prolific composer of the late Renaissance era lived at a time of transition with the polyphony of the Renaissance era already filled with intimations of the virtuosity and contrapuntal techniques of the looming Baroque era. L'Acheron's performance presents the palpable feeling of standing on thresholds throughout this fine recording.

Little is known of composer Jehan de Lescurel. Most likely trained at Notre-Dame, he wrote around thirty pieces composed in the style of the Parisian troubadours. The theme of his songs is love. They describe several romantic situations, sometimes depiecting the rejected suitor, sometimes showing a nostalgic yearning for a love gone by. This complete recording of Lescurel’s works is performed by Ensemble Celadon, directed by Paulin Bungden.

This recording transports us to Rome's Chiesa Nuova, the Oratory Church where in 1600 the premiere took place of the first spiritual opera, La Rappresentatione di Anima e di Corpo by Cavalieri. That pioneering spirit has inspired this programme devised by InAlto. Among the manuscripts in the church's library is an anonymous source, probably dating from the very beginning of the 17th century, containing a complete cycle of settings of those seven psalms that ever since the time of Saint Augustine have been called the 'Penitenial Psalms'. This Roman score is absolutely unique of it's kind, being monodic, and composed in the early operatic melodic narrative style of recitar cantando. InAlto presents here a completely original approach, one that puts this early 17th century repertoire in it's context by recreating, in the tradition of the Oratorian spiritual exercises, an imaginary ritual that might unfold in the days preceding Holy Week, one in which each of the penitential psalms takes on it's full meaning; while the extraordinary musical dissonances encoded in this manuscript are guaranteed to shock the listener.

Classical Music

Bernard Foccroulle devotes his latest recording - the last of the anthology of Northern German organ music of the Baroque period - to Jacob Praetorius and Melchior Schildt, both pupils of Sweelinck. Praetorius and Schildt's music is not only strongly marked by Lutheran tradition, in which the chorale played a fundamental part, but also by other influences, principally Italian, that prepared the way for the explosion of the stylus fantasticus at the end of the 17th century. Bernard Foccroulle was born in Li�ge (Belgium) in 1953. He began his international career as an organist in the mid-70s, playing a wide range of repertoire from Renaissance to contemporary music. He has performed dozens of world premieres of works by Philippe Boesmans, Brian Ferneyhough, Betsy Jolas, Xavier Darasse, Jonathan Harvey and Pascal Dusapin, among others. In the 1980s, he was a member of the Ricercar Consort, an ensemble devoted mainly to German baroque music. Since then, he has made his name as an organist as well as a composer and artistic director of major musical institutions.

Classical Music

This release presents some of some of the best-known works from the Renaissance, recorded by Vox Luminis and originally included in various boxed sets on historical themes (Flemish Polyphony, Reformation and Counter-Reformation, Music in Europe at the time of the Renaissance) that Ricercar has released over the last years. Vox Luminis was established 15 years ago; today, the ensemble uses its sparkling traits to enhance the world of early music! The push was made in 2004 by Lionel Meunier – bass and founding base of Vox Luminis. The objective is to gain access to the Light through the Voice. Every year, the ensemble releases on average two discs and offers its audience more than 60 concerts on Belgian, European and international stages.

Classical Music

Although named in every history of music as an important composer and as one of the creators of the Italian madrigal, principally known for the madrigal Il bianco e dolce cigno and even more so by an incorrectly attributed Ave Maria that amateur choirs have been performing since the Romantic period, Jacques Arcadelt has not yet gained the position that he deserves in the musical world of today. He was in the service of the Medici, the papacy and the kings of France; he could hardly have had a more impressive career. The recording sessions for this set created a real emotional shock on several occasions: we were convinced that Jacques Arcadelt was a true genius and it was easy to understand why his contemporaries regarded him as truly exceptional.

Born around 1380 in the Duchy of Limburg, possibly in the little town of the same name, Johannes de Limburgia was active for a long time in Li�ge, then in Italy. We have evidence of his presence in Vicenza between 1431 and 1436, and several of his works refer explicitly to Vicenza, as well as to Venice and Padua, demonstrating a strong connection with northern Italy, where his music was compiled. His output - more than 45 works - is contained in three large manuscripts from the first half of the fifteenth century, alongside music by other composers from north of the Alps, such as Johannes Ciconia and Guillaume Dufay. Though only sacred music by Limburgia has survived, it is richly varied, reflecting both the consistency of the Franco-Flemish style and the composer's own inventive taste for harmonic and melodic experimentation. The works here are explored by Le miroir de musique, led by Baptiste Romain.