Anonymous (early 16th c.): Missa sine nomine
Sarum plainchant · Kyrie Orbis factor
Hugh Sturmy (early 16th c.): Exultet in hac die
Robert Hunt (early 16th c.): Ave Maria mater dei
John Mason (c.1480-1548): Ve nobis miseris
Restored by Nick Sandon
Volume 5 of the acclaimed series Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks contains the world premiere recording of a Mass by an anonymous English composer from the first half of the 16th century. Since the source of the cantus firmus has not been identified, the Mass remains without a name (“sine nomine”). The disc also includes an antiphon addressed to St. Augustine of Canterbury which is the only surviving work of Hugh Sturmy, a short and dramatic Ave Maria mater dei by Robert Hunt, whose Stabat mater is a highlight of vol. 3 of the series, and the sonorous and captivating Ve nobis miseris by John Mason, for men’s voices in five parts. This recording is part of a 5-CD project which began in 2010.
Sarum plainchant · Kyrie Orbis factor
Hugh Sturmy (early 16th c.): Exultet in hac die
Robert Hunt (early 16th c.): Ave Maria mater dei
John Mason (c.1480-1548): Ve nobis miseris
Restored by Nick Sandon
Volume 5 of the acclaimed series Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks contains the world premiere recording of a Mass by an anonymous English composer from the first half of the 16th century. Since the source of the cantus firmus has not been identified, the Mass remains without a name (“sine nomine”). The disc also includes an antiphon addressed to St. Augustine of Canterbury which is the only surviving work of Hugh Sturmy, a short and dramatic Ave Maria mater dei by Robert Hunt, whose Stabat mater is a highlight of vol. 3 of the series, and the sonorous and captivating Ve nobis miseris by John Mason, for men’s voices in five parts. This recording is part of a 5-CD project which began in 2010.
Giovanni Valentini:
Secondo libro de madrigali
ACRONYM (Artist),
Les Canards Chantants (Artist),
Giovanni Valentini (Composer),
Secondo libro de madrigali
ACRONYM (Artist),
Les Canards Chantants (Artist),
Giovanni Valentini (Composer),
‘Among the most impressive performances were those of Les Canards Chantants, which presented a brilliant and moving program of late Italian madrigals—this was some of the best Gesualdo and D’India you are likely to hear…’ – Early Music America Magazine, 2015
J.S. Bach: St. John Passion, BWV 245
Apollo's Fire, Jeannette Sorell
Apollo's Fire, Jeannette Sorell
Apollo's Fire is a popular and critically acclaimed orchestra devoted to repertory from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (i.e., mostly works from the Baroque and early Classical era). The group consists of about 35 players and often uses guest artists during performance.
Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria
The North American release of Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria released on Linn Records, which in addition to its two GRAMMY nods has received significant critical praise.
The North American release of Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria released on Linn Records, which in addition to its two GRAMMY nods has received significant critical praise.
“The production as a whole treats the work almost like a brand new opera. It renews appreciation… with a fine dramatic instinct that puts some of today’s literary adaptations to shame.” – Opera News
Nicholas Ludford (c.1490-1557): Missa Regnum mundi
Sarum plainchant · Proper for the Feast of Saint Margaret
Richard Pygott (c.1485-1549): Salve regina
Sarum plainchant · Proper for the Feast of Saint Margaret
Richard Pygott (c.1485-1549): Salve regina
"I was transported by the exquisite beauty of this Mass, and found myself sitting in semidarkness luxuriating in the genius of Ludford’s intertwining vocal lines. Pygott’s enormous Salve regina, running in this recording to almost 23 minutes of intricate polyphony, is in the more conservative idiom of the Eton Choirbook and is given an equally intelligent and exquisitely unhurried performance. I cannot recommend this superb CD highly enough – it is the sort of recording to listen to in awe at the sustained and unerring skill of the performers and the burgeoning brilliance of the composers (and their unobtrusive editor), and to shed a quiet tear for the untold treasures that have been lost."
-D. James Ross, Early Music Review (UK) | October 2012
-D. James Ross, Early Music Review (UK) | October 2012
Nicholas Ludford (c.1490-1557): Missa Inclina cor meum
Sarum plainchant · Kyrie Cunctipotens genitor
John Mason (c.1480-1548): Ave fuit prima salus
Sarum plainchant · Kyrie Cunctipotens genitor
John Mason (c.1480-1548): Ave fuit prima salus
"The performances are suffused with elegance and polish, but, as with other releases in the series, what is equally compelling is the play of time: bygone, deliberately antiquarian relics reintroduced into the modern world as pristine artifacts; intense, expressively heightened dramas that unfold in a kind of purified, meditative slow motion." -Matthew Guerrieri, Boston Globe
Blue Heron has brought its unique gifts as a choral ensemble to bear on repertoire that is not only historically important but of a transcendent beauty. We owe them a debt of gratitude not only musicologically, but simply for their revelation of this almost forgotten repertory as music. Sublime music sung sublimely. -Ivan Moody
Robert Jones (fl. c. 1520-1535): Missa Spes nostra
Sarum plainchant · Kyrie Deus creator omnium
Nicholas Ludford (c. 1490-1557): Ave cujus conceptio
Robert Hunt (early 16th c.): Stabat Mater
Sarum plainchant · Kyrie Deus creator omnium
Nicholas Ludford (c. 1490-1557): Ave cujus conceptio
Robert Hunt (early 16th c.): Stabat Mater
"...a superb example of what Scott Metcalfe has achieved with Blue Heron: an ensemble that yields to none for intonation, blend, and clarity, yet also utilizes both overall and part-related dynamics as an expressive device in a way most other professional choirs of its quality do not... Strongly recommended.
--Barry Brenesal, Fanfare Magazine
--Barry Brenesal, Fanfare Magazine
"The choir does Ludford ample justice, dipping and soaring effortlessly in his long-drawn phrases while pointing up the pervasive but never rigid imitation that binds the textures together and prefigures the procedures of such as Tallis and Byrd... Here again both the singing and the crystal-clear recording do justice to a hugely enjoyable work..."
-Hugh Leyte, Early Music Review (UK), September 1, 2015
-Hugh Leyte, Early Music Review (UK), September 1, 2015
John Taverner (c.1490-1545): Dum Transsisset Sabbatum (II)
Sarum plainchant, Angelus ad virginem,
Gabriel fram Heven-King
Carols: Hayl Mary, Ther is no rose of swych vertu, Nowel: Owt of your slepe aryse, Ecce quod natura, Ave rex angelorum, Nowel syng we bothe al and som, Nova, Nova! Ave fit ex Eva
John Dunstaple (d. 1453): Gaude virgo
Leonel Power (d. 1445): Gloria, Ibo michi ad montem mirre
Anonymous (English, c. 1440): Missa Veterem Hominem (Sanctus & Agnus dei)
Gabriel fram Heven-King
Carols: Hayl Mary, Ther is no rose of swych vertu, Nowel: Owt of your slepe aryse, Ecce quod natura, Ave rex angelorum, Nowel syng we bothe al and som, Nova, Nova! Ave fit ex Eva
John Dunstaple (d. 1453): Gaude virgo
Leonel Power (d. 1445): Gloria, Ibo michi ad montem mirre
Anonymous (English, c. 1440): Missa Veterem Hominem (Sanctus & Agnus dei)
"Amid the commercial dross, three new releases are worth their weight in mistletoe... [The music is ] brought off with such panache. The program is by turns pensive and lively, and the scholarship required to evoke stylistic accuracy is put totally at the service of performance. There’s a deeply affecting edge to the singing, whether in an atmospheric account of the still-familiar “Veni, Veni Emanuel,” or the glorious, elevated Sanctus from the anonymous “Missa Veterem Hominem.”" -David Allen, The New York Times, Dec. 22, 2015
Far In The Heavens is comprised of recently composed and previously unrecorded works by Stephen Paulus, including two works that were commissioned and premiered by True Concord Voices & Orchestra: The Incomprehensible for their fifth anniversary season in 2009, and Prayers and Remembrances for the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 tragedy in 2011. GRAMMY®-award winning producer Peter Rutenberg of Los Angeles produced the album, and Mr. Paulus supervised the recording in Tucson, Arizona. Tragically, Stephen Paulus suffered a major stroke just six weeks after recording the album. He never recovered, and passed away in October 2014 after being in a coma for more than a year.
“The performance of True Concord Voices and Orchestra is excellent. Paulus’ trademark bright harmonies and cluster chords ring true with perfect choral intonation.” --Opera Today
Seraphic Fire continues their Christmas tradition with this revelatory disc featuring four world-premiere recordings.
Seraphic Fire’s first recording of Gregorian chant dissects the Compline hymns to the Virgin Mary that concluded daily life for monastic clerics.
Capturing MusicTHE STORY OF NOTATION
Thomas Forrest Kelly
(Author, Harvard University)
An entertaining history of how musicians learned to record music for all time, filled with art that sings.
Thomas Forrest Kelly
(Author, Harvard University)
An entertaining history of how musicians learned to record music for all time, filled with art that sings.