16. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina - Missa Papae Marcelli (1567)

Recording

Title: Allegri Miserere
Performer: The Sixteen
Director: Harry Christophers
Year: 1990
Length: 32 minutes

Review

Now we are still in the realm of the vocal performances but it is interestingly some quite different music. Palestrina really comes to revolutionise the polyphonic mass with this. This is polyphony which is actually very intelligible!

Palestrina give us just one line of music to which embellishments are added with the other voices, this makes the text much more understandable. If you imagine motets as a forest of bamboo sticks, each corresponding to a voice, this is more like one big trunk with a lot of saplings growing from it.

So there is a very distinct sound here, and it is no surprise that this is one of those compositions that is still studied today by students at universities. It is a very beautiful composition and actually quite touching in this very powerful interpretation by the sixteen.

Track Highlights

1. Gloria
2. Credo
3. Sanctus Et Benedictus
4. Agnus Dei I

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

In 1607, the composer Agostino Agazzari wrote:

Music of the older kind is no longer in use, both because of the confusion and babel of the words, arising from the long and intricate imitations, and because it has no grace, for with all the voices singing, one hears neither period nor sense, these being interfered with and covered up by imitations...And on this account music would have come very near to being banished from the Holy Church by a sovereign pontiff [Pius IV], had not Giovanni Palestrina founded the remedy, showing that the fault and error lay, not with the music, but with the composers, and composing in confirmation of this the Mass entitled Missa Papae Marcelli.

– Quoted in Taruskin, Richard, and Weiss, Piero. Music in the Western World:A History in Documents. Schirmer, 1984, p. 141.

The Gloria, by some other ensemble:

15. Orlande de Lassus - Motets (c. 1555-1604)

Recording

Title: Lassus - Missa Surge Propera
Performer: The Cardinall's Musick
Director: Andrew Carwood
Year: 2004
Length: 37 minutes

Review

As you can see by the title it is another bunch of Motets. More unaccompanied motets... but they are quite good, Lassus is definitely in a different league than the average composer, his compositions show a lot more focus in terms of the music. The music is dramatic and the voices aren't as spread out as in most polyphony, Lassus is able to converge and disperse them at will for great dramatic effect.

That being said the whole format of the motet is pretty rigid and therefore it is not as great a departure as one might expect. And for music that was composed in a space of 50 years the diferences between the pieces are minimal. If we think about the evolution of music in the last 50 years of the 20th century we get a more telling contrast.

We will really have to wait for the 17th century, particularly the second half of it, to start getting quite different music but it is thankfully around the corner. In the meantime Lassus makes some more lovely motets to add to this list.

Track Highlights

1. Quam Pulchra Es
2. Tota Pulchra Es
3. Magnificat Quatri Toni
4. Surge Propera Amica Mea

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

One of the most prolific, versatile, and universal composers of the late Renaissance, Lassus wrote over 2000 works in all Latin, French, Italian and German vocal genres known in his time. These include 530 motets, 175 Italian madrigals and villanellas, 150 French chansons, and 90 German lieder. No strictly instrumental music by Lassus is known to survive, or ever to have existed: an interesting omission for a composer otherwise so wide-ranging and prolific, during an age when instrumental music was becoming an ever-more prominent means of expression, all over Europe.

Vene Dilecte Mi:

14. Thomas Tallis - Lamentations Of Jeremiah (1565)

Recording

Title: The Lamentations Of Jeremiah
Performer: Hilliard Ensemble
Director: Hilliard Ensemble
Year: 1986
Length: 22 minutes

Review

Well this is an altogether gloomier piece of polyphony, there is none of the joy of most motets, it is a thoroughly haunting affair. This is not a criticism, however, I am not here to be made happy but to appreciate music.

And this is quite an effective piece of music, it is infused with a quite beautiful sadness, at the same time ethereal and deep. Again the recording is faultless, and seeing as this list chooses the best recording of pieces which have many times been recorded time and time again, like this one, it is only natural that there isn't much to point at in the performances, even if I was an expert.

Again, I liked this, but all this polyphony is slowly kind of melting together into one big pot. I need something different to come soon. Save me St. Baroque.

Track Highlights

1. De Lamentatione
2. Incipit Lamentatio

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Thomas Tallis made two famous sets of the Lamentations. Scored for five voices (either one on a part or in a choral context), they show a sophisticated use of imitation, and are noted for their expressiveness. The settings are of the first two lessons for Maundy Thursday. As many other composers do, Tallis also sets the announcements ('Incipit Lamentatio...', and 'De Lamentatione...') the Hebrew letters that headed each verse (Aleph, Beth for the first set, Gimel, Daleth, Heth for the second), and the concluding refrain 'Ierusalem, Ierusalem... (Jerusalem, Jerusalem, turn again to the Lord thy God)—thus emphasising the sombre and melancholy effect of the pieces. Tallis's two settings happen to use successive verses, but the pieces are in fact independent even though performers generally sing both settings together. Composers have been free to use whatever verses they wish, since the liturgical role of the text is somewhat loose; this accounts for the wide variety of texts that appear in these pieces.

A version of the incipit:

13. Antonio de Cabezon - Diferencias (c. 1560's)

Recording

Title: Tientos y Glosados
Performer: Ensemble Accentus
Director: Thomas Wimmer
Year: 2001
Length: 12 minutes

Review

It is a pity that this recording is so short, because this is some sublime music. This recording consists of four Diferencias by Cabezon, Diferencias are basically the equivalent of Variations. There is a main theme which is then embelished or otherwise improved by the composer.

The themes are all of quite well known songs by the time the composer made the variations on them. The third diferencia is particularly well known being based on the song, Belle qui tiens ma vie/Captive dans tes yeux. That one is particularly beautiful but the other ones are not far behind.

Thankfully this is a fully instrumental recording of chamber music, and a good break from all the vocals lately on the list. This freshness might have something to do with how much I loved this album, but it isn't the only reason these are some genuinely beautiful tracks. Highly Recommended.

Track Highlights

1. Diferencias sobre el canto de La Dama le Demanda
2. Diferencias sobre Guarda me las vacas
3. Diferencias sobre el canto del Cauallero
4. Diferencias sobre la Gallarda Milanesa

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Antonio de Cabezón (1510–March 26, 1566) was a Spanish composer and organist of the Renaissance. He was blind from early childhood.

He is best known for his Tientos—short, intense, liturgical and polyphonic works for organ.

Many of his compositions have survived and are still readily accessible today, in sheet music and recorded form. He produced some of the earliest extant music for solo organ.

The song on which Diferencias sobre el canto de La Dama le Demanda is based on:

12. Cristobal de Morales - Motets (1545-47)

Recording

Title: Morales en Toledo - Polifonia inédita del Codice 25
Performer: Ensemble Plus Ultra
Director: Michael Noone
Year: 2004
Length: 1 hour 17 minutes

Review

Yet another polyphonic vocal recording, frankly I am becoming more of an expert on this than I ever had an interest in becoming. It has certainly been informative if sometimes somewhat dull due to a certain sameness of the recordings. Fortunately the next album is something different.

Okay now to the recording at hand, as we have come to expect the recording itself is flawless, and the music is quite lovely. Morales seems to have a more focused style of composing in the sense that the polyphony is not as dispersed as in some of the things we have been listening to. It has a more dramatic sense than most works of its kind in the way the voices come together to express certain important points of the text, most other Motet composers did the same but in Morales it is somehow more apparent. Another thing which this recording makes great use of is the plainchant embedded in the tracks themselves.

This said I could do with a break from Motets, motet-like masses or motet-like settings of texts. That is maybe why this album hasn't fascinated me that much. Good enough but not different enough to grab me.

Track Highlights

1. Asperges me
2. Eripe me
3. Ave Maris Stella
4. Et factum est postquam

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Morales was the first Spanish composer of international renown. His works were widely distributed in Europe, and many copies made the journey to the New World. Many music writers and theorists in the hundred years after his death considered his music to be among the most perfect of the time.

Requiem Aeternam from Missa Pro Defunctis by Cristobal de Morales:

11. Nicolas Gombert - Motets (1530-1550)

Recording

Title: Gombert, Eight-Part Credo - Media Vita - Haec Dies - Vae, Vae, Babylon - Salve Regina 'Diversi Diversa Orant' - Lugebat David Absalon and other motets.
Performer: Henry's Eight
Director: Jonathan Brown
Year: 1996
Length: 1 hour 10 minutes

Review

I could honestly start listening to something else other than motets or associated polyphonic church music at the moment, but no such luck for your indefatigable reviewer. Motets it is.

Again this is a very nice recording, it does the same thing that the recording of Des Prez's Mass did in the sense that it includes the plainchants where it is applicable just before the Gombert motets. This is always a good thing because it truly gives you a sense of contrast at how different polyphony was and it always gives you a sesne of the song 'kicking in' when ti gets to the polyphony making it that more exciting.

So is this an indispensable addition to your library? Not really unless you went motet mad, you could do much worse than this lovely collection although the best Motets are still Dufay's for my money. But there are still more to come, YAY! So I might be proven wrong.

The Credo here is particularly good, a relentless piece ofm usic with little breathing space, so if you must get only one Motet by Gombert get that one.

Track Highlights

1. Credo
2. O beata Maria
3. Lugebat David Absalon
4. Media vita in morte sumus

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

According to contemporary physician and mathematician Girolamo Cardano, writing in Theonoston (1560), in 1540 Gombert was convicted of gross indecency with a boy in his care and was sentenced to hard labor in the galleys. The exact duration of his service in the galleys is not known, but he was able to continue composing for at least part of the time. Most likely he was pardoned sometime in or before 1547, the date he sent a letter along with a motet from Tournai. The Magnificat settings preserved uniquely in manuscript in Madrid are often held to have been the "swansongs" that according to Cardano won his pardon, though an alternative hypothesis (Lewis 1994) is that Cardano was referring to the highly penitential First Book of four-part motets. It is unclear how long Gombert lived after his pardon or what positions, if any, he held; his career faded into relative obscurity after being freed. He may have retired to Tournai, and spent his last years as a canon at the cathedral there. In 1556, Hermann Finck mentioned that he was still living, and in 1561 Cardano wrote that he was dead.

No youtubing for you today.

10. John Taverner -The Western Wynde Mass (1530s)

Recording

Title: Western Wind Masses
Performer: Tallis Scholars
Director: Peter Phillips
Year: 2001
Length: 32 mins.

Review

Here we go, another mass, this time by John Taverner, this is yet another quite good bit of polyphony, but nothing too spectacular or two new. In fact as I have in some t-shirt somewhere 'Taverner was no Des Prez'.

So this another Mass, pretty enough but lacking in any particular innovation or individual qualities. We have heard it before and better done. I should, however not that the Tallis Scholars recording is particularly good, the Cd contains two other Western Wind Masses, based on this one, so if you have a particular interest in it, it is the thing to check out.

The performance is flawless again, and this is the third Tallis Scholars recording in a row for a reason, so nothing to complain about there, but I would have liked Taverner to do something more for me.

Track Highlights

1. Credo
2. Agnus Dei

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Taverner was the first Organist and Master of the Choristers at Christ Church, Oxford, appointed by Thomas Cardinal Wolsey in 1526. The college had been founded in 1525 by Cardinal Wolsey, and was then known as Cardinal College. Immediately before this, Taverner had been a clerk fellow at the Collegiate Church of Tattershall, Lincolnshire. In 1528 he was reprimanded for his (probably minor) involvement with Lutherans, but escaped punishment for being "but a musician". Wolsey fell from favour in 1529, and in 1530 Taverner left the college.

Here you go, a Sanctus from another Taverner Mass, Gloria Tibi Trinitas:

9. Josquin Des Prez - Missa Pange Lingua (c. 1514)

Recording

Title: Josquin - Masses
Performer: Tallis Scholars
Director: Peter Phillips
Year: 1986
Length: 35 minutes

Review

This is a particularly interesting album, because before the mass proper you have the plainchant of Pange Lingua and so you can see where Josquin is coming from in his mass. The plainchant track is actually quite dull, as is most Gregorian chanting, but it is in Josquin's polyphonic adaptation of it that the music shines.

It is a pretty great insight into the genius of Des Prez, and the great thing that polyphony in general is when compared to the dullness of plainchant. The mass itself is beautiful, with some of the same sense of drama of the Browne Stabat Mater that we had here yesterday.

This is also the first of many masses that we will have in this list. And it is definitely a good start to them. Josquin was one of the superstars of the early renaissance and it is easy to see the why. Listen to this.

Track Highlights

1. Gloria
2. Credo
3. Agnus Dei
4. Sanctus & Benedictus

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The Missa Pange lingua is considered to be Josquin's last mass. It was not available to Ottaviano Petrucci for his 1514 collection of Josquin's masses, the third and last of the set; additionally, the mass contains references to other late works such as the Missa de Beata Virgine and the Missa Sine nomine. It was not formally published until 1539 (by Hans Ott, in Nuremberg), although manuscript sources dating from Josquin's lifetime contain the work. Famous copyist Pierre Alamire included this mass at the beginning of one of his two compilations of masses by Josquin.

The Kyrie by the Westminster Cathedral Choir:

8. John Browne - Stabat Mater (copied c. 1490 - 1502)

Recording

Title: Music From The Eaton Choirbook
Performer: Tallis Scholars
Director: Peter Phillips
Year: 2005
Length: 16 minutes

Review

This is the first of what will be many iterations of the same text in this list, there are more Stabat Maters than you can shake a stick at, and they have inspired many of the best pieces of liturgical music. This is the first one on the list and it is quite a nifty one.

If there is one thing to distinguish here it is the way in which although it is still a polyphonic piece of music with some similarities to the Motets thatwe have been listening to, it is also a piece of drama, recounting the suffering of the Virgin during the passion of Christ.

This dramatic level of the piece leads to some interesting vocal play where parts of the text have clearly a greater inflection and the music follows this by making parts more dramatic than others. For example when the cry of the people 'Crucifige' comes on it is very clear, asking for Christ to be crucified.

Another interesting aspect of this track is how some of the voices clearly stand out above the other to make some point, in a very clear and beautiful way. The text works organically like some kind of beautiful kaleidoscope.

Track Highlights

1. Stabat Mater

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

John Browne stands apart from the other Eton composers in his exceptionally varied choice of vocal forces - no two surviving works employ exactly the same - and in some predilection for very sombre texts. He stands apart from Lambe and the older composers in his greater liking for imitation and his somewhat less rigid handling of it (with for example more entries at intervals other than the unison or octave, notably at the fifth). Like Davy he is less inclined to use the old 'under-third' or 'Landini sixth' progression at a cadence (with leading-note falling by step before rising to its tonic) so beloved of John Dunstaple and Guillaume Dufay.

No youtube for you today...

7. Jean de Ockeghem - Alma Redemptioris Mater (Late 15th Century)

Recording

Title: Missa Mi-Mi, Salve Regina & Alma Redemptoris Mater.
Performer: The Clerk's Group
Director: Edward Wickham
Year: 1994
Length: 5 minutes.

Review

This is an even shorter piece of music than the last one, lasting little more than 5 minutes, Alma Redemptoris Mater is one of the very few remaining Motets by Ockeghem, and it is a very beautiful one.

This is a motet at four voices, mixing male and female voices in the recording with a particularly impressive vocal interplay and a fullness of sound not present in people like Busnoys. Ockeghem still falls behind Dufay in the Motet l33t skillz, but not very far, and unfortunately there are not enough motets around to give us a fuller impression.

I am sorry this is quite a short review, but it is based on 5 minutes of music.

Track Highlights

You are joking Right? I think I'll go for Alma Redemptoris Mater.

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

A strong influence on Josquin Des Prez, Ockeghem was famous throughout Europe for his expressive music and his technical mastery. His technical prowess is demonstrated most clearly in the astonishing Missa prolationum, which consists entirely of mensuration canons, and the 'Missa cuiusvis', to be performed in different modes, but even these technique-oriented masterpieces demonstrate his insightful use of vocal ranges and uniquely expressive tonal language. Being a renowned bass singer himself, his use of wide-ranging and rhythmically active bass lines sets him apart from many of the other composers in the Netherlandish Schools.

Here is a quite interesting Deo Gratias by Ockeghem:

6. Antoine Busnoys - Motets (Late 15th Century)

Recording

Title: Busnois - Missa L'homme armé / Donarto - Missa Spritus Almus
Performer: Binchois Consort
Director: Andrew Kirkman
Year: 2001
Length: 12 minutes

Review

This is a review of a very short portion of a recording, this recording has only two Busnoys (or Busnois) motets, they are pretty, but just a little morsel, it is hard to have an overarching notion of Busnoys work from these two tracks.

Still the tracks are in two quite different styles, one is much sombre than the other and this contrast gives you an idea of the range of Antoine Busnoys, but if compared to Dufay's motets reviewed here yesterday, these pale in comparison.

Firstly the motets are only vocal, there is no instrumentation, this is no problem in itself and is a perfectly legitimate performance, but the instrumentation in Dufay was so great that I miss it here. Still, on their own merits these are two lovely pieces of music.

Track Highlights

1. Gaudi Celestis Domina
2. Anima Mea Liquefacta Est


Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Of his sacred music, two cantus firmus masses and eight motets survive (most likely many others are lost). He wrote several settings of the Marian antiphon Regina coeli. Stylistically, his music can be heard as a mid-point between the simplicity and homophonic textures of Dufay and Binchois, and the pervading imitation of Josquin and Gombert. He uses imitation skillfully but occasionally, writes smooth and singable melodic lines, and has a strong feeling for triadic sonorities, anticipating 16th-century practice.

Some secular music by Busnois:

5. Guillaume Dufay - Motets (1420 - c.1447)

Recording

Title: O Gemma Lux
Performer: Huelgas Ensemble
Director: Paul Van Nevel
Year: 1999
Length: 69 minutes

Review

As you know no one made isorhythmic motets like Dufay. You didn't? Now you do. Not that Dufay was particularly innovative, but he was a master at what he did and he used a pretty established form in a beautiful awe-inducing way. This is probably the most beautiful record that we have heard until now.

The interplay of human voices and instruments here are something spectacular, it just sounds otherworldly and perfect. Of course as the ancient music that it is it allows a lot of latitude to the performers so a lot of credit has to go to the performers here, and their director who manage to make something really beautiful out of Dufay's music.

Yes, this isn't as exciting as Carmina Burana, or as fun, but for sheer otherworldly effect this is the one to go for. You have several voices reading different texts and being pulled together by sheer genius, it shouldn't work as well as it does, but in the end it becomes all the more esquisite because of it. A brilliant recording which is unmissable.

Final Grade

9/10

Track Highlights

1. O sancte Sebastiane
2. Rite Majorem Jacobus
3. Salve flos Tusce gentes
4. Nuper rosarum flores

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Dufay was not an innovator, with the exception of a few late works, and wrote within a stable tradition. He was one of the last composers to make use of medieval techniques such as isorhythm, but one of the first to use the harmonies, phrasing and expressive melodies characteristic of the early Renaissance. His compositions within the larger genres, masses, motets and chansons, are mostly similar to each other; his renown is largely due to what was perceived as his perfect control of the forms in which he worked, as well as his gift for memorable and singable melody. During the 15th century he was universally regarded as the greatest composer of the time, and that belief has largely persisted to the present day.

Some guys in Bangkok do a Dufay Motet, Rock On!:

4. Francesco Landini - Ballatas and Songs (Late 14th Century)

Recording

Title: The Second Circle: Love Songs of Francesco Landini
Performer: Anonymous 4
Director: Anonymous 4
Year: 2000
Length: 61 minutes

Review

Francesco Landini was the most important composer of 1300's Italy and he is very well represented by this recording. Anonymous 4 do a great job at bringing to life Landini's quite complex polyphony, in this case it is unaccompanied and so what you get are the interplays between the four great voices of the female ensemble members.

There is a problem with this album, however and that is the lack of variety in terms of sound, as all the tracks are unaccompanied and they are all in a what are the quite similar forms of Ballata and Song, it becomes after a while quite hard to distinguish between the tracks, and if you get distracted it is easy not to have noticed that a track has passed by.

So, even though you kind of miss the trees in this forest, the forest is still a very beautiful thing, and in the end you get the sense of Landini, even if you don't get the sense of each individual piece. And the general feeling is of beauty, something quite similar to Hildegarde Von Bingen, but also quite distinct. Unlike in Hildegarde's antiphons the music here is polyphonic, making it more interesting in terms of the interplay of voices, this album however does not use instruments which really backed up Hildegarde's songs. Another major factor would be the fact that the songs here are all profane, even though as they are ballads, it is not immediately apparent that they are secular as they are anything but boisterous. But the overall feeling you get from the album is similar, even though this is a bit more homogeneous.

Track Highlights

1. Muort'oramai
2. Echo La Primavera
3. Cara Mie Donna
4. Nella Mi'vita

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Blind from childhood (an effect of contracting smallpox), Landini became devoted to music early in life, and mastered many instruments, including the lute, as well as the art of singing, writing poetry, and composition. Villani, in his chronicle, also stated that Landini was an inventor of instruments, including a stringed instrument called the 'syrena syrenarum', that combined features of the lute and psaltery, and it is believed to be the ancestor of the bandura.

According to Villani, Landini was given a crown of laurel by the King of Cyprus, who was in Venice for several periods during the 1360s. Probably Landini spent some time in northern Italy prior to 1370. Evidence in some of his music also points to this: he dedicated one motet to Andrea Contarini, who was Doge of Venice from 1368 to 1382; and in addition, his works are well-represented in northern Italian sources.

Here is something by Landini, even if it is accompanied and not present in the album... blame Youtube, still it is a Ballata and it is Landini, so it kinda counts:

3. Guillaume de Machaut - Ballades (Mid 14th Century)

Recording

Title: The Art Of Courtly Love
Performer: Early Music Consort Of London
Director: David Munrow
Year: 1973
Length Of Reviewed Portion: 22 minutes

Review

Machaut is one of the great inventors of polyphony, meaning when there is more than one voice in a piece of music. If you think about Gregorian Chants for example you always think of it as a mono-vocal thing, everything is pulling the same way, eve in Hildegard's Antiphons, even if instruments were being used they were a part of the same voice, complementing the vocal performance.

Machaut brings us something different, the voices are playing against each other, while the vocal sings one song, the instrument is doing something else that plays off the voice and vice-versa, more akin to Jazz than Gregorian Chants. This is in itself extremely significant and interesting, particularly because Machaut straddled the field making monophonic music in the tradition of the troubadours and polyphonic music like these Ballades.

Other than how interesting it is, however I wasn't particularly blown away by it, the performance is perfect, but the music itself is hard to warm up to. It is fascinating in its interplay of voices, but not awe inducing. Listen to it anyway because of its significance.

Track Highlights

1. De Toutes Flours
2. Damme Ce Vous M'estes Lointeinne
3. Python Le Mervilleus Serpent
4. Amour Ma Fait Desirer

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Machaut was by far the most famous and influential composer of the 14th century. His secular song output includes monophonic lais and virelais, which continue, in updated forms, some of the tradition of the troubadours. However, his work in the polyphonic forms of the ballade and rondeau was more significant historically, and he wrote the first complete setting of the Ordinary of the Mass which can be attributed to a single composer. He was the last important representative of the trouvère tradition.

This is not from the recording here, but will give you an example of Machauts polyphony, at three voices in this case:

2. Hildegard of Bingen - Antiphons (12th Century)

Recording

Title: Canticles Of Ecstasy
Performer: Sequentia
Director: Benjamin Bagby
Year: 1993
Length of Reviewed Portion: 22 minutes

Review

Well this was a much shorter piece to listen to, of course not all the Antiphons that have come down from Hildegard are present here, but there is a nice sample which gives you an idea of what they sound like. And they sound quite lovely.

The music has a very ethereal feel to it, some would say mystic... but I'm an atheist. There is however something special about them, a certain peaceful feeling, and not only in the voices but in the sparse use of instruments as well.

This is very emotive music, clearly inspired by Hildegard's visions, and again like in the last album it is as important because of the music itself as because of who wrote it, Hildegard herself is a very impressive character, look her up on Wikipedia and she is the kind of woman that you wouldn't presume was around in the "Dark Ages"... maybe they weren't so dark, and this music isn't dark as well. It is definitely nowhere as fascinating as the Carmina Burana, and it is not something I will go out of my way to listen to actively again, but it is a lovely piece of music. And the performance is flawless, with just the required echo to remind you of the music's setting.

Track Highlights

1. Antiphon: Cum Pocessit factura Digit Dei
2. Aleluia - Antiphon: O Virga Mediatrix
3. Antiphon: O Choruscans Stellarum
4. Marian Antiphon (10th Century): Alma Redemptoris Mater

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

In addition to music, Hildegard also wrote medical, botanical, and geological treatises. She also invented an alternative alphabet. The text of her writing and compositions reveals Hildegard's use of this form of modified medieval Latin, encompassing many invented, conflated, and abridged words. Due to her inventions of words for her lyrics and a constructed script, many conlangers look upon her as a medieval precursor.

Accounts of Hildegard's visions were compiled into three books. The first, Scivias ("Know the Way") was completed in 1151. Liber vitae meritorum ("Book of Life's Merits"), and De operatione Dei ("Of God's Activities") also known as Liber divinorum operum ("Book of Divine Works") followed. In these volumes, works in progress until her death in 1179, she first describes each vision, then interprets them. The narrative of her visions was richly decorated under her direction, with transcription assistance was provided by the monk Volmar and nun Richardis. The book was celebrated in the Middle Ages and was later copied in Paris in 1513.

Hildegard's visionary writings maintain that virginity is the highest level of the spiritual life, however, she also wrote about the secular life, including motherhood. She is the first woman to record a treatise of feminine sexuality, providing scientific accounts of the female orgasm.

When a woman is making love with a man, a sense of heat in her brain, which brings with it sensual delight, communicates the taste of that delight during the act and summons forth the emission of the man's seed. And when the seed has fallen into its place, that vehement heat descending from her brain draws the seed to itself and holds it, and soon the woman's sexual organs contract, and all the parts that are ready to open up during the time of menstruation now close, in the same way as a strong man can hold something enclosed in his fist.


A video from a documentary on Hildegard with some of her music:

1. Anonymous - Carmina Burana (12th Century)

Recording

Title: Carmina Burana
Performer: Clemencic Consort
Director: René Clemencic
Year: 1975
Length: 3 hours 39 minutes.

Review

Ok, so that is a quite long album, but it is at the same time so interesting and so different within itself that it is a very rewarding listen. First you should know that this is not the Carl Orff, Old Spice, Carmina Burana, this is an interpretation of the original 12th century texts as they would have sounded then, down to using ancient instruments.

And this is amazing. It is really one of the best ancient music albums I've listened to, not only because of the music itself, which is very powerful and guttural, as well as funny and awe-inducing when needed. It is equally interesting if you listen to this with the story of the texts in mind.

If you were to trace the history of punk all the way back you wouldn't be wrong to start the story here, with the Goliards who wrote the lyrics and music to this. Imagine a motley group of young French students drinking, being rowdy, purposefully attacking and making fun of the Church, to the point that the Paris University complained:

"Priests and clerks.. dance in the choir dressed as women.. they sing wanton songs. They eat black pudding at the altar itself, while the celebrant is saying Mass. They play dice on the altar. They cense with stinking smoke from the soles of old shoes. They run and leap throughout the church, without a blush of their own shame. Finally they drive about the town and its theatres in shabby carriages and carts, and rouse the laughter of their fellows and the bystanders in infamous performances, with indecent gestures and with scurrilous and unchaste words."

It is like the 12th century equivalent of the May of 1968 and they are the guys who wrote this astonishing music.

Clemencic's performance does credit to the music's origins, it sounds completely chaotic at times, it is definitely not cleaned up pristine classical music, even if other versions of this have been refined, this is tough, rough and fun. And definitely something that all of you should listen to. If you can only have one CD the first one illustrates my points perfectly, the second isn't as raucuous, but it has the prettiest song in the bunch in Olim Sudor Herculis, the third CD is the most disappointing with the section of Carmina Divina and the Plaintes Mariales Du Jeu De La Passion being pretty but not much fun.

Track Highlights

1. In Taberna Quando Summus
2. Olim Sudor Herculis
3. Deduc, Syon, uberrimas
4. Bache, bene venies

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The satires were meant to mock and lampoon the Church. For example, at St. Remy, the goliards went to mass in procession each trailing a herring on a string along the ground, the game being to step on the herring in front and avoid your own herring from being trod on. In some districts, there was the celebration of the ass, in which an ass dressed in a silly costume was led to the chancel rail where a cantor chanted a song in praise of the ass. When he paused the audience would respond: "He Haw, Sire Ass, He haw!".

Clemencic Consort play Bache, bene venies! Bless you youtube:

Introduction

So... my life wasn't busy enough so I got this little thing, and like in films, books and albums I am going to be reviewing these guys. I should be doing it semi-regularly a couple of times a week, depending on the size of the work, while Ravel's Bolero takes 15 minutes to listen to, Wagner's Ring Cycle comes in 14 Cd's... so you can understand why it is hard to plan for this, but later today there will be the first review up. We start in the 12th century with the original Carmina Burana and end in 2004 with Julian Anderson's Book Of Hours. This will be fun, it will take be back to my teenage years of obsessive listening to classical music... and I still managed to have friends... impressive.