'Romeo and Juliet: Love Eternal' brings together some of the most recognizable orchestral works from the past 200 years from the likes of Berlioz, Delius, Prokofiev, Svendsen, Tchaikovsky and Kabalevsky. This special compilation is presented in a unique and beautiful natural packaging.

Spooky sounds and ghostly wailings are usually what come to mind when people imagine the sound of the theremin. With “Air Électrique”, Thorwald Jorgensen and Kamilla Bystrova go beyond the novelty of the theremin and let the music speak for itself. With the premier recording of Lera Auerbach’s “10 Preludes for theremin and piano”, the standard of the album is set. This compositional tour-de-force presents colourful melodic music which exploits the unique characteristics of both the theremin and the piano. The angular modernism of Lydia Kavina’s “Suite for theremin and piano” and Olesya Rostovskaya’s haunting “Juliet” show more of the theremin’s unrivalled sonic possibilities, clearly illustrating what is possible with this combination of instruments. The album also presents two chamber music pieces. The first is the world premiere of Joseph Schillinger’s “Bury, Bury me Wind”, in which Thorwald and Kamilla are joined by mezzo soprano, Itzel Medecigo. The other is the spectacular “Fantasy for theremin, xylophone and piano” by Valery Beluntsov, in which Thorwald plays not only the theremin but also the virtuosic xylophone part. All in all “Air Électrique” is an album for both lovers of the theremin and piano, and lovers of music in general.

The string quartet is at the very heart of 20th century British music, encompassing some of the quintessential works of the chamber music repertory. This compendium features fine examples of the genre, revealing the precocious talents of Benjamin Britten and John Ireland, the quicksilver craftsmanship of Frank Bridge and Alan Rawsthorne, the ‘captured sunshine’ of Edward Elgar’s writing and the evocative pastoral renderings of Arthur Bliss and Arnold Bax. Although the musical styles of each of the composers featured in this collection are unique, their contributions are unified by an innate understanding and mastery of the string quartet form. The multi-award winning and twice Grammy Award-nominated Maggini Quartet’s consummate and much lauded interpretations of these works are presented here together for the first time.

Excerpts from select reviews of previously released items included in this set:

Ireland: String Quartets

These works make for gratifying listening. The performances from the Maggini Quartet are simply magnificent: what devotion these musicians lavish on this music. Furthermore, the recording is quite superb in its intimacy, blend, and balance — the listener feels like the “fifth” member.

– Fanfare

Bax: String Quartets Nos. 1 & 2

Both quartets are important contributions to the repertoire, something made abundantly clear by the Maggini Quartet's masterful, deeply felt, and finely executed readings. The ensemble's burning conviction will make you a believer too.

– ClassicsToday

Alwyn: String Quartets Nos. 1-3

With controlled vibrato and sharp attacks, theirs is a compellingly stark, uncompromising, physical approach, stressing the modernity of the works. Lyrical sections, as a result, stand out in bold relief.

– Fanfare

Classical Music

Twice a laureate of the International Smetana Piano Competition and a winner of the Bedrich Smetana Prize, Johanna Hanikova studied piano playing at the Janacek Conservatoire in Ostrava with Professor Monika Tugendliebova. During her conservatoire studies she already made her name at national as well as international competitions- 1st prize at Prague Junior Note, 1st prize at Pro Bohemia, and laureate title at the Prague Conservatoire Young Pianists Competition. She is developing her concert activities as a soloist regularly with renowned Czech symphonic orchestras. For this release, she has chosen a programme of well-known composers Ludwig van Beethoven and Sergei Rachmaninoff, Czech composers Bedrich Smetana and Leos Janacek, and contemporary composer and pianist Adam Skoumal.

This recording project was created to celebrate the tenth anniversary of concerts by the John Hackett and Marco Lo Muscio Duo. As in their concerts, the pieces suggest a musical journey between ancient and modern music alternating between duo and solo compositions. The repertoire starts with music from the baroque era up to the present day with the duo's original compositions. Their musical journey includes music of contemporary classical composers and ventures into the world of progressive music. The album includes three exceptional guests who have made a difference in the history of modern music: John's brother. Steve Hackett, the Genesis guitarist; David Jackson, the Van Der Graaf Generator saxophonist; David Cross, the King Crimson electric violinist.

Le Tombeau de Debussy: a fascinating compilation of works composed in 1920 by Bartók, Dukas, Falla, Goossens, Malipiero, Roussel, Satie and Schmitt as a tribute to Debussy who had died 2 years earlier, together with Ravel’s Duo for Violin and Cello and Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments, each a memorial to Debussy in its own right.

REVIEWS:

The sound quality is ideal. It allows listeners to appreciate the subtle sonorities of each piece...[this is] an often beautiful and always interesting piece of musical archaeology.

This remarkable disc not only presents Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy but includes three spin-offs from that project...Debussy died on 25 March 1918. Two years later, Henry Prunières (1886-1942), the director of the French journal La Revue Musicale, commissioned a joint memorial volume for the composer. He approached the great and good of European music, and asked for a specially written contribution. Ten composers responded with short works that balanced a celebration of Debussy’s musical achievement with each contributor’s individual style. A glance at the track listings shows a wide range of age and aesthetic. Paul Dukas, 55 years old, was the senior contributor, whilst the Englishman Eugene Goossens, at 27, was the youngest. Most of them had made their names before the Great War; some were just about to become successful.

[Dukas'] La Plainte, au loin, du Faune (Lament from afar, of the faun) evokes Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune. The music is dense and numinous, with some foretelling of his pupil Olivier Messiaen’s “harmonic complexities”. Here, the Faun truly does lament his creator, Debussy.

Manuel de Falla’s elegiac Homenaje was written for guitar. A lugubrious piece, it uses the habanera rhythm, and includes nods towards Debussy’s Iberia. It is a masterclass in subtle chords, scale, arpeggios and dynamics for this instrument. The composer subsequently made versions for piano solo and orchestra.

The longest work in Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy is Florent Schmitt’s À la mémoire de Claude Debussy: Et Pan, au fond des blés lunaires, s’accouda. The latter part of the title translates as “Pan leaned on his elbows deep in the Lunar wheat fields”. There is stylistic variety here; Romanticism, post-Wagnerism and Impressionism contribute to this memorable piece.

Gian Francesco Malipiero left Italy in 1913 to work in Paris. He was fascinated by Debussy’s music. His Hommage à Claude Debussy: Lento echoes the dead composer’s La Cathédrale engloutie (The Submerged Cathedral) with its archaic Gregorian chant “giving the impression of sovereign majesty and greatness”.

This is followed by the most modern-sounding piece in the collection. The Fragment from Symphonies of Wind Instruments is less than a 1½ minute long. This is a piano reduction of that work’s final choral. Naxos have included a complete recording of the orchestral version (23 woodwinds) [which] was derided at its premiere in London on 10 June 1921. We have learned a lot since then!

The only Englishman represented in the project was Eugene Goossens. His Hommage à Debussy, Op. 28 combines two sections: a dissonant Bergian prelude followed by a short impressionistic postlude. It is one of the loveliest pieces on this CD. Béla Bartók’s Sostenuto, rubato features a unison melody supported by shimmering chords which balances impressionism with an indigenous cradle song.

One of the recurring features of Claude Debussy’s music are references to Greek mythology. Albert Roussel’s L’accueil des muses (The Muses’ Welcome) is designed as a musical ascent of Mount Parnassus, the seat of Euterpe and her fellow goddesses. Much of this piece reflects grief, but towards the close there is a definite sense of optimism.

Compared to so much of his music, [Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Cello] is an acerbic piece that reflects his reaction to the First World War. The first movement was included in the memorial volume. The others were added in 1922. The liner notes explain: “the ultra-transparent writing for two melodic instruments corresponds with Debussy’s last works, and especially his late sonatas for violin and cello, where he gave up his trademark impressionistic multicoloured spectrum in favour of concentrated neo-Classical clarity.” The entire work is given a splendid performance here.

The pianist Tomer Lev was the driving force behind this realisation of Le Tombeau de Claude Debussy. He has provided exceptionally detailed liner notes: not only context but brief overviews of the composers, and an informed discussion about each piece. The usual biographies of the performers are included. The text is presented in English and French. Finally, it should be noted that Tomer Lev has rearranged the order of the pieces to that of the original score. In an essay for The Gramophone (December 2020), he wrote: “Le Tombeau is, to all practical purposes, well-nigh unperformable. Having not been given any precise criteria to write to, the composers had let their imaginations run free, and composed for a dizzying variety of instrumentations.” What has resulted from Lev’s realisation is an often beautiful and always interesting piece of musical archaeology. For me, the obvious diversity becomes a major strength rather than a dilemma.

-- MusicWeb International (John France)

Enjoy this full-flavored selection of music whilst sipping on a coffee from your favorite cup. Let our blended brew of aural aromas bring you down to earth from the day’s highs, and experience how our choice of works gives grounds for escape from the grind of the day, filtering out downbeat moments before stirring yourself back into the daily routine. This release, part of the Naxos Lifestyle Series, features works from famous classical composers like Chopin, Beethoven, Bach, and Brahms, as well as more modern composers like Bernstein and Scriabin. Only the finest musicians have been chosen to perform these works, including Idil Biret, the Bas que National Orchestra, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Maria Kliegel, and more.

The sound of unaccompanied chant moves and inspires those seeking the sublime. In our increasingly busy and secularized world, people return to chant, regardless of their religious beliefs, for the peace and calm that this eternal music offers.

Every instrument’s repertoire is usually rich in works composed in very idiomatic ways and realized by authors often unknown to the general audience. Especially in the 19th Century it is possible to notice a very rich literature dedicated to the most different musical instruments able to satisfy the needs and requirements of the one who had to perform as a soloist. In the case of oboe the works we present are an example of a production that collects virtuosity and melodic pleasure. They are all by 19th Century Composers from all over the world - Spain ( Escobés ), France ( Saint-Saëns, Stupuy ), The Netherlands ( Barth ) and England (Walmisley )- everyone with their own peculiarities but united in the perfect agreement of the virtuosic and expressive resources of oboe. Enrico Calcagni is a keen scholar of his instrument repertoire both classic and contemporaneous (as you can see in Vermeer 40020: Henry’s Adventure ) and in this release we have a tangible interpretation of instrumental brilliancy and vividness giving us back in their authenticity too long forgotten works.

The chamber combination of trombone and piano is unusual and charming. On Sapphire, Peter Steiner and his pianist partner Constanze Hochwartner give an insight into how this combination can work, thereby exploding the myth of commonly-held preconceptions about what the trombone is capable of. It is not just the instrument that shall sound on the Day of Judgment; it can sing tenderly and sweetly, producing a myriad of timbres that sparkle like a sapphire. With his trombone, the solo instrument that is rarely featured in the field of classical music, Peter Steiner is at home all over the world. After studying at the Mozarteum and the Juilliard School in New York, the young Austrian not only won three solo instrument competitions staged by the International Trombone Association ITA as the first trombonist ever to achieve the feat; he went on tour round the world, from Brazil via the USA to Japan. In 2017 he got to know the young pianist and organist Constanze Hochwartner, with whom he recorded the album Sapphire in Columbus/Georgia, USA. The programme of the album combines arrangements of works by Mozart and Puccini with melodies by Bernstein and complements contemporary trombone literature with film music from the movie "The Godfather.” Peter Steiner wishes to illustrate how versatile his instrument is, and the sounds he produces are indeed astounding. Soft sounds that range through all the registers alternate with catchy and powerfully mesmerizing musical concepts.

This is the 8th installment in the SWR CLASSIC series dedicated to Fritz Wunderlich. It contains never before released recordings as well as rarely performed repertoire worth discovering, brilliantly sung by one of the most talented tenors of all times. The esteemed German tenor, Fritz Wunderlich was no doubt enveloped in music at an early age. Urged to pursue classical voice training by theater people who heard him singing as they passed the bakery where he worked, the young Wunderlich was granted a scholarship to the Freiburg Music Academy in Breisgau by the town fathers. He studied there from 1950 to 1955, also studying the classical horn, which explains his almost supernatural breath control. After playing Tamino in a 1955 student production of W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Fritz Wunderlich was engaged by the Wurttemberg State Opera in Stuttgart. His first professional role was as Ulrich Eislinger in Die Meistersinger. When he was called to play Tamino for an ailing Josef Traxel, Stuttgart had a new star and Fritz Wunderlich's short but amazing career had begun. During the remaining decade of his life Fritz Wunderlich gained the highest respect as a W.A. Mozart singer, lending lyrical brilliance to J.S. Bach, Schubert and Gustav Mahler and melodic tenderness to Bel Canto and light opera roles. Following such greats as Tauber and Schmidt, Wunderlich also devoted a good part of his time to the beautiful songs of such composers as Strauss, Lehár, Kálmán and Fall.

We are very pleased to announce a new recording from MPR of music for string orchestra entitled 'Palace Premieres', with the Countess of Wessex's String Orchestra. The playlist consists of hitherto unrecorded music performed during Royal Investitures (where honors are bestowed by Her Majesty the Queen or by one of her close family) and includes works such as Suite: In Rural England by Thomas Dunhill, Shepherd's Delight by Alec Rowley, Pastoral Scene by Frederic Curzon, Fragment for Strings by Bertram Walton O'Donnell, Nocturne by WH Speer, In Georgian Days by Roger Quilter, Rivers of Devon Suite by Ernest Markham Lee and a number of beautiful light music arrangements for strings of folk songs. We have also included as a 'bonus' a suite of Seven Pieces by Giles Farnaby, arranged by Bantock. We recorded the latter only to discover that in fact it has already been recorded but only once to our knowledge and we decided that as it is such good material we just had to include it. The Countess of Wessex's String Orchestra is very sensitively directed by Major David Hammond, a truly fine musician. The orchestra consists of the best string players in the Army who are very fine and highly trained musicians. The quality of playing is really excellent and the performances committed. The album was recorded in the sumptuous acoustic of the Guards Chapel in London and the recording engineer is the legendary Tony Faulkner. Mike Purton was producer and editor and we recommend this recording to anyone who loves British music of a certain period (see above). Lee's 'Rivers of Devon' Suite is very Elgarian, Speer's little 'Nocturne' brings to mind Wagner’s 'Siegfried Idyll' and you can see from many of the titles that spirit of Rural Englandis frequently invoked. This recording has been made in collaboration with the Corps of Army Music Trust.

This collection of classical favorites of Bach's work serves as a compilation of his famous works made available by Budapest Failoni Chamber Orchestra; Cologne Chamber Orchestra and Northern Chamber Orchestra accompanied by a host of renowned classical talent.

Roberto Aussel writes: "Paths, encounters, surprises, joys, sorrows, gratitude and an infinite space for research have been the components which led me to express in the present recording the feelings this music conveys to me. Europe, Buenos Aires and La Pampa it is a tribute to Astor Piazzolla by a European composer. The music from Buenos Aires and La Pampa harmonize in this record to express the soul of music. As Atahualpa Yupanqui said, a journey is made of endless arrivals. Discovering each of these pieces has given me an enormous motivation to learn and follow new paths, like a true channel telling a musical story. It is as if it were a very long trail. When you walk through it from a point to another to know and explore it, you find rest, you long to walk again to reach a new resting point and to start again."

This fine collection of arguably the Greatest Film Music ever written brings together on one album music from some of the most memorable films ever made. Opening with the unforgettable music from the ground-breaking 1977 movie ‘Star Wars’ by the greatest living composer of film music, John Williams, this selection includes a unique 14-minute concert suite of music from the film. Other Williams scores for Stephen Spielberg blockbusters include those for the unforgettable fantasy ‘E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial’ and the haunting science fiction ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’. This album also looks back to the heyday of Hollywood, with scores by Max Steiner – from ‘Gone With the Wind’ – and the undisputed Master of the genre, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, with music from ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’ and the weepie ‘Escape Me Never’. The hit theme from ‘The Big Country’ by Jerome Moross is also here, and British music from legendary U.K. movies widens the scope of this unique collection, with two great film scores by Sir William Walton – ‘Henry V’, starring Laurence Olivier, and ‘The First of the Few’ – the famous ‘Spitfire Prelude and Fugue’ – as well as the great Ron Goodwin’s memorable ‘633 Squadron’ alongside music from two Soviet composers: Prokofiev’s score for ‘Alexander Nevsky’ and Aram Khachaturian’s famous ‘Adagio from Spartacus’, featured in the romantic historical drama ‘Mayerling’. All in all, this SOMM release should form part of any collection, conducted by the great Scottish-born Maestro Iain Sutherland, directing the Philharmonic Promenade Orchestra of Hilversum.

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REVIEW:

Expertly recorded by conductor Iain Sutherland and the Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, Great Classic Film Music captures the magic of cinema through the music we know and love.

– Classic FM

Classical Music

The grand Arp Schnitger organ in St. Jacobi (Church of St. James) in Hamburg is remarkable in several respects. This instrument with four manuals boasts of the largest extant inventory of original pipes from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the Trompete 16’ in the great organ is the very oldest of its kind. Harald Vogel, the Nestor of the Northern German organ tradition and the recent recipient of the Buxtehude Prize of the Hansa City of Lübeck, presents this magnificently restored organ in conjunction with an unusual Hamburg “family reunion.” Hieronymus and Jacob Praetorius, Joachim Decker, Matthias Weckmann, Heinrich Scheidemann, and Dietrich Buxtehude- they were all closely associated with St. Jacobi and its organ and stood for the towering significance of Hamburg’s music culture over several generations. And, as luck would have it, Arp Schnitger, certainly the most important organ builder of the Northern German school, refrained from renovating some qualitatively superb stops by his predecessors Scherer and Fritzsche. Consequently, the development of the Northern German style can also be traced with special authenticity in the sound dimension. From individual flute stops to Schnitger’s famous reed-based plenum, Harald Vogel presents this album featuring numerous examples of the special tone-color richness of this extraordinary instrument.

One of the most exceptional female artists of the 19th century celebrates her 200th birthday in 2019. The acknowledged Clara Schumann expert Ragna Schirmer has devoted a special act of homage to her artistic predecessor, taking two original concert programmes selected from Clara's decades of concert performance and recording them to provide insight into the life and work of this very special woman. In 1847, Clara and her husband Robert Schumann gave a matinee concert in the Berlin salon of Fanny Hensel. The programme featured two songs and the premiere performances of the piano quartet by Robert and the piano trio by Clara Schumann. 25 years later, on a tour of England, she played a solo piano recital (an unusual practice at that time) featuring all the works that meant most to her: her husband's "Scenes from Childhood" and works by Beethoven, Scarlatti, Chopin, Brahms and Mendelssohn, a programme that delighted her audience. She was announced as "Madame Schumann". From over 1300 printed programmes, collected and preserved by the celebrated pianist over the course of her performing career, Ragna Schirmer opted for just these two. "The number of great works she studied and performed in the course of her life is quite amazing," says Ragna Schirmer. "Another thing that fascinated me was the form, sequence and planning of her concerts. She played alongside the most important musicians of her time and most of her concerts reveal themselves to be varied compilations of different music genres." Ragna Schirmer has long been recognized for her intimate engagement with the life of Clara Schumann. In April 2019, she will receive the Robert Schumann Prize of the City of Zwickau. "I have all her diaries at home, I have all her letters at home, I have all the biographies ever written, her children's reminiscences... I find it incredibly exciting to be involved with this life and I regard her as an essential role model."

Spider's Egg is a sextet put together by Brasilian guitar player Pedro Martins specifically for the 50th edition of the SWR NewJazz Meeting. For five days the six young, internationally renowned musicians, who come from very different geographical places and stylistic directions, exchanged ideas. They experimented in the SWR studios and developed a concert program that they then presented in three concerts in Germany and recorded for the present release. Pedro Martins,​ Brazilian musical prodigy, and winner of The 2015 Montreux Guitar Competition is well known for his collaborations with Kurt Rosenwinkel, Yaron Herman, David Binney, Jacob Collier, and Genevieve Artadi (Knower), as well as Brazilian jazz greats ​Hamilton de Holanda, ​Gabriel Grossi, and Léo Gandelman.

To provide an initial account of 10 years of musical rediscovery, the Palazzetto Bru Zane is bringing out a boxed set of 10 albums showcasing extracts from some of the works that have been unearthed: a wide spectrum (1780-1920) of music is presented, spanning tragédie lyrique, opera, operetta and café-concert, cantata, sacred music, orchestral music, concertante music, chamber music, piano music and mélodie. This boxed set also includes recordings made in collaboration with labels working in partnership with the Palazzetto Bru Zane since 2009.

The vocation of the Palazzetto Bru Zane - Centre de musique romantique francaise is to favor the rediscovery of the French musical heritage of the years 1780-1920 and obtain international recognition for that repertory. Housed in Venice in a palazzo dating from 1695 specially restored for the purpose, the Palazzetto Bru Zane - Centre de musique romantique francaise is a creation of the Fondation Bru. Combining artistic ambition with high scientific standards, the Centre reflects the humanist spirit that guides the actions of that foundation. The Palazzetto Bru Zane’s main activities, carried out in close collaboration with numerous partners, are research, the publication of books and scores, the production and international distribution of concerts, support for teaching projects and the production of recordings.

REVIEW:

Well worth anyone’s attention, especially those attracted to the less familiar areas of 19th-century repertoire. In fact, I have rarely encountered a ‘compilation’ that has yielded so much listening pleasure...it helps that the standard of performance (and recording) is first-rate throughout. Treat it as an educational indulgence, I say.

-- Gramophone

CONTENTS:

• CD 1: Tragédie lyrique
• CD 2: Opéra
• CD 3: Opérette et Café-Concert
• CD 4: Cantate
• CD 5: Musique sacrée
• CD 6: Musique symphonique
• CD 7: Musique concertante
• CD 8: Musique de chambre
• CD 9: Piano
• CD 10: Mélodie

Classical Music

Neither Lucrezia Borgia nor any of the female members of the nobility in that time ever had a musical chapel, unlike their respective husbands. However, part of his domestic budget was destined to string instrument players maintenance, singers and, to a very important person: a dance teacher. If being aware of the latest fashion dances was a socially essential issue, so it was musical evenings organization, with the common instrumental group composed by lutes or violas, an instrument that seems to had it's origins in Valencia in the middle of XV century, and from there traveled to Italy. About Lucrezia musical taste nothing is known, but not so her husband Alfonso d'Este, who (perhaps) in homage to his new wife was at the head of six violas consort in the celebrations of their own wedding, reflected in this Capella de Ministrers recording.

Fuoco di gioia -at the beginning of Verdi's "Otello", the compatriots of the victorious protagonist cheer his triumphant return to his home port with a vocal "fire of joy". The opera quote is also the title of this new album recently recorded by the Bavarian Radio Chorus, together with the M�nchner Rundfunkorchester under it's chief conductor Ivan Repu�ic. The opera chorus from "Otello" begins this selection of famous choruses and instrumental pieces from stage works of Italian belcanto (Verdi), Italian verismo (Leoncavallo, Puccini, Mascagni), Russian opera (Borodin, Glinka, Tchaikovsky), and the romantic operas of Richard Wagner. These very recent recordings from January, February and July 2019 contain well-known and enjoyable melodies that are perfect for singing along to (secretly or otherwise)!

Two centuries after the prosperous era of Charles IV, Prague enjoyed its second Golden Age, under the reign of the art-loving Emperor and King Rudolf II, as it became a busy cultural centre, attracting artists from all over Europe. Like in a melting pot, a variety of musical styles mingled together in the city: the Franco-Flemish polyphony, represented by the world’s most accomplished composer at the time, as well as the vigorous tradition of literary brotherhoods with the archaic polyphonic repertoire of the previous generations. The focal point of the album is the recently rediscovered Prague manuscript of polyphonic masses, with the fabulously survived Missa Presulem ephebeatum by Heinrich Isaac, one of the most significant masters of the Franco-Flemish polyphonic style. Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz’s Presulem ephebeatum, whose thematic material inspired Isaac, attests to his mass being connected with Bohemia and Prague. The album contains a number of other extraordinary pieces, including Josquin Des Prez’s celebrated Stabat Mater, with the added sixth voice, which has been uniquely preserved in this form in Bohemia. Cappella Mariana, made up of stellar early music singers (Hana Blažíková, Barbora Kabátková, etc.), have performed Renaissance polyphony to great acclaim at Europe’s most prestigious concert venues and festivals. Vocal polyphony of Renaissance Prague in the perfect harmony of the Cappella Mariana voices.

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REVIEW:

There is an ancient depiction of Bohemia as a rose, with Prague at its center, which presumably is the source of the disc’s title (and stylized cover art), although, from a marketing standpoint, the exclusive Latin inscription on the CD’s front cover is more likely to result in bewilderment for prospective listeners than the ready offer of a credit card number. What exactly is this recording anyway? A line of very small type on the back cover offers a clue: “Music in Renaissance Prague”. Okay, now we’re (sort of) getting somewhere, and yet, with no other information, the list of mostly unfamiliar composer names on the program–Petrus Wilhelmi de Grudencz; Lupus Hellinck; Joannes Sixtus Pragensis; Pierre de Bonhomme; Kryštof Harant; Johannes Tourout; Jacobus Regnart–does little to incite more than curiosity. But wait: there’s a Mass by Heinrich Isaac, a motet by Jacob Obrecht, a Stabat Mater by Josquin, all claimed to be “world-premiere” recordings (as are many of those other pieces). What gives?

I could go on, but the point is, even for someone who knows and cares more than a little about “Renaissance music”, this program and its purpose remains something of a mystery, most importantly: what do these composers and works have to do with Prague, and why have we never heard of them before? Nothing on the outside packaging gives us a clue. So, a look at the liner notes should resolve our questions, right? Wrong. There is plenty of information, but the translations (the English ones in my case) are somewhat awkward and sketchy regarding the music’s origins and selection for the recording.

It turns out that “Music in Renaissance Prague” refers to polyphonic music found in manuscripts housed in that city, which was then (and remains) a significant cultural center that attracted musicians from all over Europe. One of the manuscripts was only relatively recently rediscovered, and contains works not necessarily found elsewhere, thus the world-premiere designation for pieces such as the Isaac Mass and Josquin Stabat Mater (in a unique version with an added sixth voice). The recording begins with the very early, and apparently once very well-known piece by Petrus–Presulem ephebeatum, trabeatum, radiatum venustemus sedulo (the first letters spelling the composer’s name)–from which Isaac garnered the cantus firmus for his Mass.

The best part about all of this is, I can assure you that if you do care about Renaissance vocal music, especially in the manner of the Franco-Flemish masters of the mid-15th/mid-16th centuries such as Josquin–and of a comparable caliber–you will enjoy every minute of this excellently programmed and exceptionally well-sung recording. In fact, while the music is uniformly first rate, you may be even more impressed by the performances by the Czech ensemble Cappella Mariana, six singers (two sopranos, alto, tenor, baritone, bass) whose artful interpretations, expert ensemble execution, and vibrant, perfectly tuned sound give well-deserved life to whatever they sing, whether or not we’ve heard of the composer or work in question.

In fact, while the Isaac and Josquin pieces are certainly worthy of a place in the recording catalog, highlights for me also include Hellinck’s In te, Domine, speravi and Regnart’s glorious seven-part tribute to his teacher Jacobus Vaet, Defunctum charites Vaetem (sound clips). What we learn from listening to this hour-long program is that, even if those illustrious Franco-Flemish composers never physically appeared in the Czech capital, their music did, and it had a notable influence on the composers who later worked there, especially in the time of Rudolf II (he became King of Bohemia in 1575 and moved the court to Prague in 1583). You may also, like me, make the happy discovery of this very special vocal ensemble, Cappella Mariana and its artistic director Vojt?ch Semerád, whose careful research and dedication to bringing this music to our attention is much appreciated. If only the packaging had made a more effective and clear presentation of the program’s content–but then, that’s why we have reviews…

– ClassicsToday (David Vernier)