Ingegneri: Missa Laudate pueri Dominum - Croce: In spiritu h
Toccata
CD
$20.99Apr 03, 2020
The Cremonese composer Marc'Antonio Ingegneri (c. 1535/36-92) is chiefly remembered as the teacher of Claudio Monteverdi while, for well nigh 500 years, his own achievements were left to sit in the shadows. This pioneering recording reveals Ingegneri to have been one of the masters of his age, writing music of breathtaking richness and beauty: the polychoral works to be heard here combine learned, intricate counterpoint with the kind of sheer sonic thrill that brings a shiver of physical excitement. Girton College Chapel Choir is an international-prize-winning choir of some 25 members, which has grown in prominence over the last ten years, due to it's impressive musical standards, regular recordings, and ambitious, exciting touring schedule. During Full Term, the Choir's principal function is to sing the liturgy in Girton's Chapel. This includes Choral Evensong every Sunday, and Compline (a beautiful, meditative evening service) every Tuesday, and Vespers every Friday. For this, the Choir rehearses just twice a week. Recent foreign tours have included Israel & Palestine, Canada, Portugal, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, USA, Germany, Slovenia, France, Ireland, Switzerland and Spain.
Finck: Missa super Ave praeclara & Sacred Works / Bruser, Josquin Cappella
CPO
CD
$18.99Nov 18, 2016
Heinrich Finck was born in Bamberg and quite probably spent his formative years at the court chapel in Cracow or Warsaw in Poland. In any case, this is what can be gathered from comments by his grandnephew, Hermannn Finck, in his Practica Musica of 1556. Here we also read that his granduncle was famed as a master already in the 1480's. After a short period of study in Leipzig he then was active as the church music director at the Polish court in Cracow for a number of years. He interrupted his activity there in 1490 in order to accept a position at the Hungarian royal court, but this arrangement was not permanent. When the ducal ensemble was disbanded in 1514, Finck probably became a member of the imperial court chapel. He later served the Salzburg Cathedral chapter, then at the Scottish Abbey in Vienna, where he contributed to the development of the choral and instrumental ensemble, and finally as the chapel master of Emperor Ferdinand I's court ensemble.
The opportunity to celebrate, in 2020, the 250th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven alongside the 30th anniversary of German reunification is akin to a gift for a label that has been instrumental in preserving the recording heritage of the GDR, offering as it does the opportunity for a retrospective view and assessment of the past. This series with 10 new editions from the archive of ETERNA recordings includes audio productions from the early days of the label as well as later productions from the late 80s. Partly remastered from the original tapes and provided with the original covers, these historic-legendary recordings shine in new glamour. The present volume presents Beethoven's Mass in D Major: "Missa Solemnis," performed by the Rundfunkchor Leipzig and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under the baton of Kurt Masur.
In a commentary on the group of works called "Tradition", Dieter Schnebel writes that he wishes to track down what is urgent and lively in the time-honoured forms and contexts of the past and lead them to a new present and future in a dynamic way. As one of the most significant works in which that is displayed with great clarity, the "Missa" stands out from Schnebel's oeuvre.
"Missa" has got an ecumenical and political character: elements of every kind of Christian church music - and also music of the synagogue - are incorporated into it. Over and above this it acquires a specific connection with Berlin: in memory of the "Bekennende Kirche" [confessing church] in particular of Martin Niemoller, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Karl Barth and the first performance (1988) took place in the Church of Jesus Christ in Dahlem, where Martin Niemoller once preached and which was once the centre of the church resistance movement against the Nazis.
"Missa" ends with the "Dona nobis pacem" in a multi-lingual cry for peace - rebellion and unfulfilled plea in one.
This production received the quarterly German Record Critics' Award!
World Premiere recording! This Mass has come down to US as a single manuscript source, dated 1689 and kept in the Archive of the Holy House Shrine in Loreto. The manuscript is archaic not only in looks but also in content, disposition of the parts, and notation. It is difficult not to think of this Missa as a devout testament offered by Legrenzi to the Virgin of Loreto.
Christoph Eschenbach has a longstanding association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and this release adds to critically acclaimed recording of Bruckner Symphony No. 6 released in 2011. a prolific recording artist over five decades, Eschenbach has recorded as both a conductor and a pianist on labels including Deutsche Grammophon, Sony/BMG, Decca, Ondine, Warner and Koch. The stellar quartet of soloists includes the great lyric soprano Anne Schwanewilms, who enjoys an unparalleled reputation for her performances of Strauss and Wagner, and tenor Nikolai Schukoff who is destined to become a leading voice of his generation.
One of Giuseppe Verdi's most dramatic, profound and moving works, the Requiem (1874) was written in heartfelt response to the passing of poet, novelist and Italian patriot Alessandro Manzoni in 1873. This superb reading, witnessed and recorded in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1960 under the masterful and knowing direction of Carlo Maria Giulini, features the then relativity new Philharmonia Orchestra (founded 1945) and Chorus, with a cast of vocal soloists that featured, on the women's side, Joan Sutherland and Fiorenza Cossotto, Luigi Ottolini and the recently deceased Ivo Vinco on the men's.
Missa Conceptio Tua: Medieval And Renaissance Music For Advent
Naxos
CD
$9.99$19.99Save 50%Oct 14, 2014
This collection of early music for the Advent season provides a glimpse into the days of anticipation and hope leading up to Christmas during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Pierre de La Rue spent his professional life serving some of the most influential rulers of that time, and the glorious polyphony of his Missa Conceptio tua celebrates the Immaculate Conception in a manner appropriate to the extravagant liturgy of the Habsburg-Burgundian court. The seven O Antiphons focus on the theme of Jesus’s imminent arrival, while the concluding English carols centre on the Virgin Mary’s birth of the Christ child. Schola Antiqua of Chicago is a professional vocal ensemble dedicated exclusively to the performance of music from before the year 1600. An ensemble that executes the pre-modern repertory with “sensitivity and style” (Early Music America), Schola Antiqua was founded in 2000 under the artistic leadership of Calvin M. Bower (University of Notre Dame). The ensemble has recorded three albums on the Discantus label (including first recordings of music by Léonin, Du Fay, Guerrero, and Lassus).
During the reign of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza (1444-76), Milan experienced an extraordinary musical era. In the 1470s, the Duke set out to form a 'famous and worthy choir', recruiting a 'goodly number of singers from beyond the Alps and from various countries'. He soon assembled a musical ensemble that boasted some of the most celebrated musicians in the Franco-Flemish polyphony of the day, from Italy and beyond. The Duke brought into being a new kind of polyphonic mass, a cycle of motets called missales to replace the traditional ordinarium, with texts attributing special importance to the worship of Our Lady of Grace and Mercy, much beloved by the Sforza family. A masterpiece of the genre is the so-called Missa Galeazescha for five voices, composed by Loyset Compère and performed here by an ensemble inspired by the impressive size of Galeazzo Maria Sforza's cappella. This recording brings together four vocal-instrumental groups.
Beethoven: Missa solemnis / Suzuki, Bach Collegium Japan
BIS
SACD
$21.99Mar 02, 2018
Beethoven began composing the Missa solemnis in 1819, when he learned that his patron (and pupil) Archduke Rudolph was going to be appointed Cardinal Archbishop of Olmütz. The plan was for the mass to be ready for performance at the enthronement celebrations in March 1820, but one year proved to be too little time. It wasn’t until almost three years later, in January 1823, that Beethoven was able to complete the work. As might be expected, it was unparalleled in every respect – although composed for use during church services, even Beethoven’s contemporaries found that it exceeded the bounds of the genre. Beethoven himself was quite aware of both the dimensions and the importance of the work: in a letter he described it as ‘my greatest work’. It is also a work which over its course encompasses great contrasts: from the solemnity of the Kyrie and the intense excitement at the opening of the Gloria to the disturbing intimations of war during the closing Dona nobis pacem.
Originally founded with the aim of performing the choral works of Bach, the Bach Collegium Japan and Masaaki Suzuki are now taking another great leap, after their recent release of Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor. Described as ‘refreshingly open-hearted, spontaneous and natural’ their interpretation received a 2017 Gramophone Award. Joined by an eminent quartet of vocal soloists, the team now applies its expertise in period performance to Beethoven’s masterpiece.
----- ,/br> REVIEWS:
The performance has warmth, energy and an exact feeling for tempo. The Japanese chorus rise fearlessly to Beethoven’s demands. A memorable musical and emotional experience.
– Sunday Times (UK)
This recording of Ludwig van Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Op. 123 offers a revelatory performance that is so clear in its textures, lively in its tempos, meticulous in its execution, and detailed in its parts that this monument of western choral music seems to have shaken off all the mossy accretions of nearly two centuries. Highly recommended.
Francesco Cavalli: Missa a 8 voci concertata con Istromenti,
Dynamic
CD
$16.99Sep 19, 2025
As a boy, Francesco Cavalli was a member of San Marco Basilica's Chapel, then directed by Claudio Monteverdi, from whom he probably received tuition. In time Cavalli's fame as an operatic composer spread across Europe and he succeeded Monteverdi in San Marco to reach the apex of success in Venice. He also wrote sacred music, published in two great printed collections. The first collection, published in 1656, contains his Missa a 8 voci Concertata, an imposing and magnificent work of exceptional complexity for eight soloists, two four-voiced choirs and many instrumentalists. In this recording it is performed in the context of an All Saints' Day liturgy by Ensemble Locatelli, directed by Cavalli scholar, Bruno Gini.
