5 Favourite Early Music Albums

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 04:06 AM

Henry Purcel: Hear My Prayer, O God Thou Art My God.[check out Clare College Choir on youtube]

I think that deserves a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WXx5tttwGo

That's a setting of Verse 1 of Psalm 102 in Common Prayer; I've heard it suggested his intention was to set the entire psalm - 28 verses, averaging 2 minutes each, resulting in an hour of music that would simply waste anyone that heard it. Verse One is powerful enough.

*

Getting back to Martin Best, a rummage through my old record cabinet reveals three albums, two of which are 45rpm Nimbus pressings. Anyone remember those? A full length album pressed at 45rpm for increased quality. Pre CD of course, though Nimbus made their mark there too of course. Also in my record cabinet, the Musicke of Sundrie Kindes boxset by the Consort of Musicke which is nigh on 4 hours of perfection over 4 disks (nice long sides). I see on Amazon you can get this on CD for £25 - 4 short CDs. Tempting, but there's something about old vinyl boxsets that sets them apart. My favourite is David Munrow's Music of the Gothic Era which features takes on Leonin / Perotin organum that are still damn near definitive 40 years on.

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: andrew e
Date: 06 Feb 12 - 01:06 AM

I tend to go for individual songs rather than cds.

Favourites are:
Victoria: O magnum Mysterium. Motet and Mass. Oxford Camerata.

Byrd: Mass four four and mass for five voices. Oxford Camerata.
Ave Verum Corpus. Sacerdotes Domini. Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford.[my old choir]

Thomas Tomkins. When David Heard, Almighty God The Fountain Of All Wisdom. Cambridge Singers/Oxford Camerata.

John IV of Portugal. Crux Fidelis. Oxford Camerata.

Henry Purcel: Hear My Prayer, O God Thou Art My God.[check out Clare College Choir on youtube]
Thou Knowest Lord The Secrets Of Our Hearts[though not the setting that Clare College Choir sing on youtube]. The more popular one.

Gibbons: This Is The Record Of John.

Could go on!

I direct A Cappella Choirs and we get to sing most of these.

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: Matt_R
Date: 05 Feb 12 - 10:25 PM

Not sure about specific albums, but I love Palestrina and John Dowland.

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 05 Feb 12 - 05:31 PM

A couple of albums of troubadour songs by the Martin Best Consort.

Whatever happened to Martin Best? Back in the '80s he was the darling of Medieval Music on BBC Radio Three, with any amount of shows, live broadcasts and series. I had them all on tape - such classics as Love Human, Love Divine from the Proms in 1984 (?) and an amazing Guiraut Riquier concert from the York Early Music Festival (81?) so much better than the album. All gone, alas!

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: Don Firth
Date: 05 Feb 12 - 04:55 PM

Whole batches of stuff.

A couple of albums of troubadour songs by the Martin Best Consort.

A five-inch pile of CDs by the Baltimore Consort, and others by individual members of the group.

The Tallis Scholars.

Many others.

Getting really early, I recently acquired a DVD by Benjamin Bagby of Sequentia doing the first thousand lines or so of Beowulf (said to be the earliest preserved work of English Literature, circa 800 A.D.). Basically intoning, chanting, singing, and accompanying himself on the Anglo-Saxon lyre-harp (CLICKY). Probably the nearest thing to an ancient skald or bard doing his thing. Goosebumps!

Complete with extra features. Commentaries, discussions of the work and way of performing.

I was turned on to this by Seattle folk singer Nancy Quensé, who has recently been singing with the Seattle Medieval Women's Choir and a couple of other groups.

I have read that this was more than likely the way works like the Iliad and the Odyssey were done:   reciting, sometimes chanting, to occasional lyre accompaniment.

Been really into this stuff lately!

Don Firth

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: Chris Green
Date: 05 Feb 12 - 03:57 PM

Agree with the Praetorius Mass - one of the most sublime things I've ever heard. Has anyone come across Les Witches? - their Playford album is the best of its kind I've come across.

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: Tootler
Date: 05 Feb 12 - 03:21 PM

In the Streets and Theatre's of London - Musicians of Swanne Alley
Chominciamento Di Gioia - Ensemble Unicorn
Playford's Popular Tunes - The Broadside Band (or anything else by the Broadside Band)
Yule Riding - The York Waits (or anything else by the York Waits)
John Taverner, Missa Tibi Gloria Trinitas/Westron Wynd Mass - The Sixteen.

Plus
Hang up Sorrow and Care - Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band*

*May not be considered strictly an Early Music Album by some as modern instruments are used (not exclusively) but the album consists of Popular music of the Mid-Seventeenth Century.

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 03:57 PM

For early music lovers: This wonderful programme* airs every Sunday morning on Irish radio, but there's a listen-again player for online. It's based around religious music (no preaching of any sort, strictly musical and historically factual) and he always starts with very early periods and then moves forward through time. It's a well-loved Sunday-morning treat for us and I've discovered some real gems this way.

They publish a playlist with details of the recordings, though that (and the listen-again) sometimes doesn't hit the website until Mondays. They used to have an archive of all their past shows - which go back years - in some format that was downloadable but needed Real Player, though that seems to have gone now. He's said on air that you can download podcasts of their past programmes, so I'll have to search this out - it wasn't obvious on the web page - and that big "Download Podcast" link takes you to an especially-made broadcast, which is also good, but is not the archive. There's also an anthology CD which I mean to get. Anyway:

* "Gloria" on Lyric FM Radio (Ireland)

http://www.rte.ie/lyricfm/gloria/

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 01:35 PM

Does anyone know anything else about them?

I've got maybe three Naxos albums featuring Red Bryd singing with the Rose Consort of Viols - by Byrd (of course), Orlando Gibbons and (my favourite) Thomas Thomkins. They make a good noise but I found their 'authentic' pronunciations a little hard to take at first. These are pretty old now - 20 years or so - but they're still available & being on Naxos cheap enough for a punt.

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: ollaimh
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 01:21 PM

the cd larotta, by the group larota based once in montreal would on my list. they do fasboulous renditions of medieval french songs, with several from the trouveres who were hotly ctiticizing the court of phillip the fiar--i love a good protest song.

i saw then live at the lameque baroque festistival and they were great. one of the members is tobie millar, a student of jordi savill in her graduate studies.

i'm also fond of ludwig senfl's "in maien" performeed by the group frettwork. some beautiful melodies on a variety of viols with great singing by tenor charles daniels.

i play it all the time.i found the cd by accident in a bargin bin and had never heard of senfl. i was delighted to find some of the finest melodies ever composed

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: GUEST,richd
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 01:07 PM

I think these look interesting.

http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/performers/redbyrd.html

Does anyone know anything else about them?

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: theleveller
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 11:07 AM

"Tomas Luis de Victoria, Requiem, The Sixteen with Harry Christophers."

Yup, my current favourite, too.

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 05:50 AM

Belinda Sykes

One of the great voices of our time really - there's some amazing recordings on Naxos in the company of Oni Wyters / Ensemble Unicorn, though I'm never too sure where one begins & the other ends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlzy9PvSb9w

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: Paul Burke
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 05:31 AM

AFOTBOG (HOB) of course as Richd suggested.
Magdalena (Joglaresa/ Belinda Sykes).
An Excess of Pleasure (Palladian Ensemble)
Julian Bream with Broken Consort - this was my brother's LP, so before 1970, but it certainly got me into early music, that, David Munroe, and a long- lost LP of Terpsichore.
The two early City Waites LPs, the ones they didn't re-issue on CD - Hark the City Waites (?) and A Gorgeous Gallery of Gallant Inventions. I don't know why these were allowed to be forgotten. Perhaps another bulmerism.

But "early music" is nearly as elastic as "folk"- Lucy Skeaping's BBC Radio 3 slot covers from early mediaeval to late 18th century. Which covers about 90% of my interest in "art" music.

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 04:55 AM

Crikey! Here's a film of Sequentia from 2009, still nice & magically potent I see...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kit6iNLrbTk

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 03:36 AM

A big yes to Sequentia here, although I think I lost touch with the Visions from the Book album way back when. Top ones include their innumerable albums of Hildegard (soon to be saint???) - chief of which is the vinyl boxset of their first recording of the Ordo Virtutum from 1982. My favourite of theirs, however, is their debut album Spielmann und Kleriker (um 1200 (Minstrel & Cleric) from 1980 which features near definitive takes on Olim Suder Herculis and Samson dux Fortissime by a basic quartet of Barbara Thornton, Benjamin Bagby (voice & harp), Margriet Tindemans (fiddle) and Crawford Young (lute & gittern). A truly remarkable album in every sense - never seen it on CD though...

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: mrdux
Date: 04 Feb 12 - 12:33 AM

here are five of my current favorites:

Orlando Consort -- John Dunstaple: Musician to the Plantagenets
Tallis Scholars -- William Cornysh: Stabat Mater
Gothic Voices -- The Mirror of Narcissus - Secular Songs by Guillaume de Machaut
Venance Fortunat Ensemble -- Fulbert de Chartres: Cantor of the Year 1000
Ensemble Organum -- The Chant of the Templars - the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in the 12th Century

and i also have to mention Benjamin Bagley and the late Barbara Thornton and their ensemble Sequentia, for, among things, two wonderful traversals of the more-or-less complete works of Hildegarde von Bingen.

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: glueman
Date: 03 Feb 12 - 07:26 PM

Early and contemporary classical music is pretty much the only kind I listen to regularly, plus light music. The orchestral period doesn't float my boat very often.

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 03 Feb 12 - 03:54 PM

I love that recording of Praetorius Mass too, especially In Dulci Jubilo

Even if I haven't got time for the whole CD on Christmas Day, then I play IDJ - good and loud. As Steve says, nearly strong enough to give even this old atheist a religious experience.

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 03 Feb 12 - 03:46 PM

I love that recording of Praetorius Mass too, especially In Dulci Jubilo

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: SteveMansfield
Date: 03 Feb 12 - 03:33 PM

The Gabrielli Consort's Praetorious Mass for Christmas Morning is one of the most astonishing things I've ever heard in my life.

Yikes, how did I forget that one? Astonishing is the word, soaring, gorgeous, atmospheric stuff, nearly strong enough to give even this old atheist a religious experience.

Personally I still stick to the David Munrow definition of 'Early Music' as being the period before the baroque, with a rough cut-off point somewhere in the early 17th Century, as the old loud and soft musics gave way to the seductive sounds of the mixed consort and the nascent stirrings of what later became the orchestra.

Anything later than that may well produce extraordinary and revelatory results from the application of Historically Informed Performance right up to Beethoven and Mendelssohn, but that's, for me, a very different kettle of fish.

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 03 Feb 12 - 01:30 PM

Handel's getting dangerously modern for proper Early Music ...

These days you get Early Music going right up to the late Romantic, any music (according to Wiki) for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises, instruments and other contemporary evidence. Which seems about right.

My favourite Water Music / Fireworks is the Jordi Savall / Concert des Nations recording on Alia Vox. I'm still in thrall to the King's Consort impressive covering of Purcell during the tercentenary year (anyone want a cheap thrill pick up their Essential Purcell CD which you can stil buy for a fiver in most record shops - it really is special). The Gabrielli Consort's Praetorious Mass for Christmas Morning is one of the most astonishing things I've ever heard in my life. And David Munrow is still waiting his heir I reckon!

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 03 Feb 12 - 01:21 PM

Tomas Luis de Victoria's Requiem, as performed by The Gabrieli Consort under Paul MacCreesh

Songs of Hildegard von Bingen as performed by Emma Kirkby & Gothic Voices

Any lute music played by Paul O'Dette

The Monteverdi Vespers on that old DGG Archiv boxed set performed by (???) Nicolaus Harnoncourt… I think. Can't remember offhand.

Spem in Alium as performed The Clerkes of Oxenford (a third higher than the original).

Anything by Robert Carver - particularly the magnificent "Taverner Browne Carver" album by Andrew Parrott's Taverner Choir.

Nativity to Candlemas by the King's College Choir


Yes, I know, that's seven. And counting.

I love seeing lists of people's favourites. They usually lead me to new treasures I hadn't discovered before, or had forgotten.

What on EARTH is "pretentious" about early music albums? Especially when you consider that "early music" includes a huge number of trad folk tunes - ones that everybody still plays at ceilidhs, many of which go back to 16th-century sources and were probably heard long before they were notated and collected in those. I seriously Do Not Get this sort of dividing-&-labelling.

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 03 Feb 12 - 01:15 PM

Furtunately Early Music is easier to define than folk... Early Folk results in stuff like the St. Georges Canzona, Anthems in Eden and John Renbourn. Perversely, Topical Tom's list would be classed more as Contemporary Folk, which still has a great deal of relevance to folk-fans the world over, for whom Folk = Comforting Cultural Stasis. No harm there. In the field of Early Music, we have Modernist and Post Modernist approaches, though the material is always historic. I think the Post-Modernist approach is best examplified by Jordi Savall, whose 36 year mission continues to yield great fruits on a plethora of fronts (including much Folk material, even unto his popular Celtic Viol albums). Not so much of the Modernists around these days, though Atrium Musicae de Madrid did some sterling work in this respect (most impressively on Music of Ancient Greece and the truly baffling La Folia, likewise The Clemencic Consort who even in their dotage can still inspire & unsettle in equal measure with their free wheeling approach to everything from the Codex Buranus to Machaut.

Is that pretentious enough for you, Richard?

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: SteveMansfield
Date: 03 Feb 12 - 01:06 PM

David Munrow and the EMCL - Two Renaissance Dance Bands
Kings Consort - Lo Sposalizio (The Wedding of Venice to the sea)
Gabrieli Consort - A Venetian Christmas
The Sixteen - Spem in Alium
Piffaro - A Flemish Feast

I've also got an absolutely stonking period instrumentation version of Handel's Fireworks & Water Music, miles better than the usual slushy strings and cotton-wool wind & brass versions, but I can't find the artist details just at the moment and anyway Handel's getting dangerously modern for proper Early Music ...

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: topical tom
Date: 03 Feb 12 - 12:48 PM

1. The Weavers at Carnegie Hall

2.Gazette (Tom Paxton)

3.American Folk Songs (Pete Seeger)

4.One Million Lawyers and Other Natural Disasters (Tom Paxton)

5. The New Lost City Ramblers (the earliest album, not sure of the title)

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 02 Feb 12 - 07:04 PM

Tomas Luis de Victoria, Requiem, The Sixteen with Harry Christophers.
Tallis Scholars. I would have a problem selecting any one of them, performance or composer. I would put any four on my list.

I could add many more; I have never liked favorite lists.

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: GUEST,Richd
Date: 02 Feb 12 - 06:57 PM

Complete Latin Church Music Vol 1 Tallis/Parrot
A feather on The Breath of God: Abbess Hidegarde of Bingen
Mr Tomkins: his Lessons of Worth: Bertrand Cullier
Early English Keyboard Music: Thurston Dart
Te Deum: Charpentier

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: glueman
Date: 02 Feb 12 - 06:25 PM

Palestrina by The Sixteen
William Byrd by The Tallis Scholars (various albums)
Melisma (not studio recorded but some fine footage out there) such as O Sacrum Convivium
Danse in the Garden of Mirth by The Dufay Collective
Tomas Luis de Victoria - Motets by Victoria Voices and Viols

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 02 Feb 12 - 04:22 PM

Look forward to seeing you Crowsis

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 02 Feb 12 - 03:03 PM

(even if a bit pretentious).

Pretentious? Moi?

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 02 Feb 12 - 03:03 PM

Well, over at Alia Vox they're streaming Montserrat Figuera singing A Chanter in memorium, but my favourite YouTube right now is the Hesperion XXI Royaume Oblie (Forgotten Kingdom of the Cathars) concert which can be seen in various pristine episodes beginning here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1wY8Idr1gU&feature=related

It's introduced by Rene Zosso, who occupies the top rung of my pantheonic stepladder to stars. Run a search for other rare glimpses of this shamanic genius....

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: GUEST,Crowsis
Date: 02 Feb 12 - 03:02 PM

Pretentious RB? What an odd notion!

Hopefully see you all at the Nag's on Sunday btw. all being well..

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 02 Feb 12 - 02:54 PM

This might actually be interesting and informative (even if a bit pretentious).

Subject: RE: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: GUEST,crowsis
Date: 02 Feb 12 - 02:33 PM

Got any top tuney links, Suibne?

Subject: 5 Favourite Early Music Albums
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 02 Feb 12 - 02:28 PM

This was prompted by Leeneia who said below line that she didn't like or hadn't heard of anyone in the other Favourite Five threads. Well, here's a one that might suit! Actually, I'm having a real Early Music Winter focussed mostly on the outpourings of Alia Vox, but I'm avoiding that here, to focus on some real old favourites...

Codex Gluteo - Atrium Musicae de Madrid
O Vilanella - Consort of Musicke
Troubadours - Clemencic Consort
Cantigas de Santa Maria - Esther Lamandier
The Punkes Delight and Other 17th Century Music for Viol & Keyboard - Jordi Savall & Trevor Pinnock