De Profundis/Eamonn Dougan - "Morales: Requiem a 5; Officium defunct". Cristobal de Morales's five-voice Missa pro defunctis is steeped in a grandeur and solemnity which resonate powerfully with the listener, especially in a large-scale account such as that recorded here by de Profundis. The Requiem is preceded by a selection of motets which address last things in an affecting Office for the Dead.
2023 release. Grammy-winning composer Eric Whitacre releases a new album with world-renowned VOCES8 - his 'dream vocal group' - for the first time. With Eric conducting throughout, it includes a world premiere recording of his new piece, All Seems Beautiful to Me, as well as a new recording of one of his most popular pieces - The Seal Lullaby. The album also features the 12-movement cantata, The Sacred Veil, with text by Eric's long-time friend and collaborator, Charles Anthony (Tony) Silvestri.
Dufay: Motets, Hymns & Chansons, De Lantins, Ockeghem / Blue Heron
Blue Heron Renaissance Choir
CD
$18.99Mar 01, 2007
"This debut marks Blue Heron as a leading new actor in the field of early Renaissance music, both for studying the sources and bringing them to life. Altogether, this is one of the finest Dufay collections to come out in recent years."
- Fanfare
Music by Guillaume Du Fay (1397-1474) Blue Heron’s first CD offers an entrancing selection of music by one of the greatest composers of the 15th century. The program includes three isorhythmic motets (Apostolo glorioso, Rite majorem Jacobum canamus, and Ecclesie militantis), the glorious, large-scale Sanctus “Papale” in its first recording in three decades, two hymns with alternatim plainchant verses, and a generous sampling of secular songs. While the disc is mostly devoted to the music of Du Fay, it also includes a song by Du Fay’s contemporary Hugo de Lantins (Mon doulx espoir), and a marvelous motet-chanson by his friend and colleague of the next generation, Johannes Ockeghem (Permanent vierge). The music was recorded in September 2006 at the Church of the Redeemer in Chestnut Hill, MA and the CD was released in March 2007 on the Blue Heron label as BHCD 1001.
The long-established tradition of devotion to the Virgin Mary resulted in some superb settings from Spanish composers. Supreme amongst them, Victoria set some of his finest music to Marian texts. This recording showcases works for eight parts, some of them for two antiphonal choirs discreetly accompanied by organ and bajón, all displaying the magnificent fervent sonorities for which he is famous.
