Early Music articles from May 1993

Early Music archives from May 1993

French Songs and Motets of the 14th Century.
May 1, 1993... No recordings are more eagerly awaited by enthusiasts of medieval music than new projects by Christopher Page and Gothic Voices. Eleven discs have appeared to date: one devoted entirely to Hildegard of Bingen, and another ten that cover a...

Staging a 'tragedie en musique;' a 1748 promptbook of Campra's 'Tancrede.' (Andre Campra) (French Baroque 1)
May 1, 1993... The holdings of the Bibliotheque de Versailles (F-V) include what may well be the earliest extant source of stage directions for a tragidie en musique: a printed score in reduced format of Andre Campra's Tancrede, containing over 120...

Bach: Sonatas for Violin and Continuo.
May 1, 1993... This clutch of Bach recordings covers many facets of the composer's output in performances which, with one exception, are likely to satisfy most collectors. To begin with the exception, Anneke Uittenbosch's playing of Book 2 of the |48' on...

'Sous les doits de Chambonniere.' (Jacques Champion de Chambonnieres) (French Baroque 1)
May 1, 1993... In the 17th century Jacques Champion de Chambonnieres was the most widely known of the great French harpsichordists; today he is the least. His music has been available in a good edition since 1925, longer than any other.(1) But it is the...

Tunings and transpositions in the early 17th-century French lute air - some implications. (French Baroque 1)
May 1, 1993... At a symposium devoted to the lute and its music held at Neuilly-sur-Seine in September 1957 Andre Verchaly pointed to a problem that confronts editors and performers of the early 17th-century lute-accompanied air de cour.(1) The problem lies...

Music and the self-fulfilling prophecy in Moliere's 'Le mariage force.' (French Baroque 1)
May 1, 1993... Early in 1664 Louis XIV asked Jean-Baptiste Moliere and Jean-Baptiste Lully to create a court entertainment in which he and some of his courtiers could participate.(1) The resulting comedy with intermades, entitled Le mariage force (|The...

Making connections: thoughts on Lully's entr'actes. (Jean-Baptiste Lully) (French Baroque 1)
May 1, 1993... Each act of an opera by Lully, except the last, ends with instructions for an entr'acte - a brief orchestral piece to be played during the interval before the next act begins.(1) In each case the entr'acte is simply a dance piece borrowed...

The Concert Spirituel in the Tuileries palace. (French Baroque 1)
May 1, 1993... Frangois I (1515-47) began the westward expansion of Renaissance Paris in 1546, when he had part of the medieval fortress of the Louvre pulled down and commissioned Pierre Lescot to begin a new palace in its place. This became the original...

Schubert: Symphony No. 5, Symphony No. 8, Rosamunde, Incidental Music.
May 1, 1993... Two problems stare the performers on these Schubert discs in the face. First, apart from Symphony no.8, the music is not of the highest rank and requires exceptionally fine playing to bring it off. Like a kind of Viennese Robin Holloway,...

Rameau in the recording studio; a survey of recordings of French Baroque opera. (Jean Phillippe Rameau) (French Baroque 1)
May 1, 1993... When I made a survey of Rameau's stage works on disc for Early music in 1976 (iv/3, pp.284-7; iv/4, pp.499-501) the number of complete performances was small - two tragedies en musique, a comedie lyrique, an opera-ballet in two versions, and...

The elusive world of the French Baroque. (Performing Matters) (French Baroque 1)
May 1, 1993... Style and interpretation If you ask any singer in Baroque music today which of the national styles is the most difficult he or she would probably answer immediately the French Baroque. It is difficult because there is a linguistic...

Instruments. (Salerooms)
May 1, 1993... Instruments We have seen sales in all the major rooms this quarter, though there is little of any great excitement to report. Certainly there have been some surprising prices paid, but after the previous report, with unknown Bressans...

Plainsong in the Age of Polyphony.
May 1, 1993... This second volume in the series Cambridge Studies in Performance Practice may be somewhat disappointing for those buyers whose primary interest is in fact performance - unless they share the general editor's point of view that performance...

Music for Elizabethan Lutes.
May 1, 1993... Here is a thorough survey of the earliest surviving English lute music, dating from c.1558 to c.1577 - much of it |poor stuff' as Prof. Ward admits. If you are new to English lute music, you would get a more favourable impression by first...

Monteverdi's Tonal Language.
May 1, 1993... This is a brave title for a brave book. While the trend has been increasingly to place the music of Monteverdi firmly in the historical and stylistic contexts from which it emerged (note the shift from Leo Schrade's Monteverdi, creator of...

The Office Hymns: A Selection.
May 1, 1993... The increasing availability of budget editions of early music is a cause for great celebration among performers of the repertory. With this trend, driven by the development of desk-top publishing, an incredibly rich seam of material, hitherto...

The Sacred Music of Gilles Binchois.
May 1, 1993... To give some sense of this new volume's importance it is enough simply to say that it contains nearly 300 large pages of music as against the 55 in Rehm's edition of the Binchois songs. Several of the 64 pieces here are spurious: to the four...

The New Oxford Book of Carols.
May 1, 1993... The Oxford book of carols (OBC), first published in 1928, is one of the most widely used carol books; yet some of its drawbacks have always been apparent, and a more satisfactory successor has long been awaited. One obvious failing was its...

French Songs and Motets: 1340-1440.
May 1, 1993... No recordings are more eagerly awaited by enthusiasts of medieval music than new projects by Christopher Page and Gothic Voices. Eleven discs have appeared to date: one devoted entirely to Hildegard of Bingen, and another ten that cover a...

French and English Music: 1350-1420.
May 1, 1993... No recordings are more eagerly awaited by enthusiasts of medieval music than new projects by Christopher Page and Gothic Voices. Eleven discs have appeared to date: one devoted entirely to Hildegard of Bingen, and another ten that cover a...

Brumel: Missa Et ecce terrae motus, Lamentations, Magnificat Secundi Toni.
May 1, 1993... Antoine Brumel's 12-voice Missa Et ecce terrae motus achieved a lasting impact during the 16th century. In an age where the performance of contemporary music was the rule rather than the exception, it was sung in the 1570s at the Bavarian...

Brumel: Dies Irae, Missa Et ecce terrae motus.
May 1, 1993... Antoine Brumel's 12-voice Missa Et ecce terrae motus achieved a lasting impact during the 16th century. In an age where the performance of contemporary music was the rule rather than the exception, it was sung in the 1570s at the Bavarian...

Gombert: Music From the Court of Charles V, Missa in tempore paschali, Magnificat Secundi Toni, Motets, Chansons.
May 1, 1993... Antoine Brumel's 12-voice Missa Et ecce terrae motus achieved a lasting impact during the 16th century. In an age where the performance of contemporary music was the rule rather than the exception, it was sung in the 1570s at the Bavarian...

Music From the Eton Choir Book, vol. 3.
May 1, 1993... Antoine Brumel's 12-voice Missa Et ecce terrae motus achieved a lasting impact during the 16th century. In an age where the performance of contemporary music was the rule rather than the exception, it was sung in the 1570s at the Bavarian...

Taverner: Western Wynde Mass.
May 1, 1993... Antoine Brumel's 12-voice Missa Et ecce terrae motus achieved a lasting impact during the 16th century. In an age where the performance of contemporary music was the rule rather than the exception, it was sung in the 1570s at the Bavarian...

Carver: The Complete Sacred Choral Music.
May 1, 1993... Antoine Brumel's 12-voice Missa Et ecce terrae motus achieved a lasting impact during the 16th century. In an age where the performance of contemporary music was the rule rather than the exception, it was sung in the 1570s at the Bavarian...

Desprez: Missa Pange Lingua, Vultum Tuum, Planxit Autem David.
May 1, 1993... Antoine Brumel's 12-voice Missa Et ecce terrae motus achieved a lasting impact during the 16th century. In an age where the performance of contemporary music was the rule rather than the exception, it was sung in the 1570s at the Bavarian...

Flemish Polyphony of the High Renaissance.
May 1, 1993... Antoine Brumel's 12-voice Missa Et ecce terrae motus achieved a lasting impact during the 16th century. In an age where the performance of contemporary music was the rule rather than the exception, it was sung in the 1570s at the Bavarian...

Monteverdi: Il Ritorno D'Ulisse in Patria.
May 1, 1993... Claudio Monterverdi IL RITORNO D'ULISSE IN PATRIA Ulisse Christoph Pregardien (tenor) Penelope Bernarda Fink (mezzo-soprano) Telemaco Christina Hogman (soprano) Eumete Martyn Hill (tenor) Ericlea Jocelyne...

Odes on the Death of Henry Purcell.
May 1, 1993... For over 200 years now Purcell has been given the Shakespeare treatment - no mere mortal Orpheus but a cultural god, and one elevated to such a lofty seat in the pantheon that in lifting our eyes to him we generally overlook his lesser...

Vocal and Instrumental Music.
May 1, 1993... For over 200 years now Purcell has been given the Shakespeare treatment - no mere mortal Orpheus but a cultural god, and one elevated to such a lofty seat in the pantheon that in lifting our eyes to him we generally overlook his lesser...

Purcell: Ayres and Songs From Orpheus Britannicus.
May 1, 1993... For over 200 years now Purcell has been given the Shakespeare treatment - no mere mortal Orpheus but a cultural god, and one elevated to such a lofty seat in the pantheon that in lifting our eyes to him we generally overlook his lesser...

Corelli: Sonatas for Strings, vol. 3.
May 1, 1993... The Purcell Quartet have rapidly built up an enviable reputation with their recordings of trio sonatas by Corelli, Vivaldi and Purcell. Admirers of earlier discs are not likely to be disappointed by this third volume in their Corelli series....

Corelli: Concerti Grossi.
May 1, 1993... The Purcell Quartet have rapidly built up an enviable reputation with their recordings of trio sonatas by Corelli, Vivaldi and Purcell. Admirers of earlier discs are not likely to be disappointed by this third volume in their Corelli series....

Concerti.
May 1, 1993... The Purcell Quartet have rapidly built up an enviable reputation with their recordings of trio sonatas by Corelli, Vivaldi and Purcell. Admirers of earlier discs are not likely to be disappointed by this third volume in their Corelli series....

Vivaldi: 13 Suonate a Violino Solo, e Basso Per Il Cembalo.
May 1, 1993... Antonio Vivaldi Fabio Biondi (violin), Rinaldo Alessandrini (harpsichord, organ), Maurizio Naddeo (cello), Paolo Pandolfo (double bass), Rolf Lislevand (theorbo, Baroque guitar) Arcana 942 004 (rec 1991) Eric Cross These...

Vivaldi: Six Concertos From L'estro armonico.
May 1, 1993... ARMONICO, op.3 Arcangeli Baroque Strings, directed by Michael Sands Meridian CDE 84225 (rec 1991) Eric Cross These new Vivaldi discs offer a selection of works both familiar and unfamiliar. The 12 Manchester Sonatas are so...

Vivaldi: Double Concertos.
May 1, 1993... Collegium Musicum 90, directed by Simon Standage Chandos CHAN 0528 Eric Cross These new Vivaldi discs offer a selection of works both familiar and unfamiliar. The 12 Manchester Sonatas are so called because their manuscripts,...

Lute Works, vols. 1-2.
May 1, 1993... LUTE WORKS Nigel North (Baroque lute) Linn Records CKD 006 (rec 1990) Tim Crawford Nigel North is well known as one of the most musical and sensitive performers in the field of early music. His reputation is largely...

Weiss: Lute Works, vols. 1-2.
May 1, 1993... LUTE WORKS, VOLS 1 & 2 Lutz Kirchhof (Baroque lute and theorbo lute) Sony Classical S2K 48391 (two CDs, rec 1986) Tim Crawford Nigel North is well known as one of the most musical and sensitive performers in the field...

Three Centuries of Lute Masterpieces.
May 1, 1993... MASTERPIECES Lutz Kirchhof (Renaissance and Baroque lute) Sony Classical SK 48068 (rec 1988) Tim Crawford Nigel North is well known as one of the most musical and sensitive performers in the field of early music. His...

French Court Music From the 17th Century.
May 1, 1993... CENTURY Marie Claude Vallin (soprano), Max van Egmond (baritone), Lutz Kirchhof (Renaissance lute) Sony Classical SK 48250 (rec 1991) Tim Crawford Nigel North is well known as one of the most musical and sensitive...

Jacquet: Music for Solo Harpsichord.
May 1, 1993... Although there were many brilliant literary women during Louis XIV's reign, there seems to have been only one woman composer: Elizabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre. Her early career as a child prodigy and the regard in which both the king and...

Forqueray: Livre de Clavecin de Madame Forqueray.
May 1, 1993... Although there were many brilliant literary women during Louis XIV's reign, there seems to have been only one woman composer: Elizabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre. Her early career as a child prodigy and the regard in which both the king and...

Pieces de Clavecin.
May 1, 1993... Although there were many brilliant literary women during Louis XIV's reign, there seems to have been only one woman composer: Elizabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre. Her early career as a child prodigy and the regard in which both the king and...

Duphly: Complete Harpsichord Works.
May 1, 1993... Although there were many brilliant literary women during Louis XIV's reign, there seems to have been only one woman composer: Elizabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre. Her early career as a child prodigy and the regard in which both the king and...

Balbastre: Pieces Pour Clavecin, vol. 2, Airs Choisis D'Operas.
May 1, 1993... Although there were many brilliant literary women during Louis XIV's reign, there seems to have been only one woman composer: Elizabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre. Her early career as a child prodigy and the regard in which both the king and...

Bach: Das Wohltemperierte Klavier, Teil 2.
May 1, 1993... This clutch of Bach recordings covers many facets of the composer's output in performances which, with one exception, are likely to satisfy most collectors. To begin with the exception, Anneke Uittenbosch's playing of Book 2 of the |48' on...

Bach: Suites for Violoncello Solo.
May 1, 1993... This clutch of Bach recordings covers many facets of the composer's output in performances which, with one exception, are likely to satisfy most collectors. To begin with the exception, Anneke Uittenbosch's playing of Book 2 of the |48' on two...

Bach: Mass in B Minor.
May 1, 1993... This clutch of Bach recordings covers many facets of the composer's output in performances which, with one exception, are likely to satisfy most collectors. To begin with the exception, Anneke Uittenbosch's playing of Book 2 of the |48' on...

Bach: Secular Cantatas.
May 1, 1993... This clutch of Bach recordings covers many facets of the composer's output in performances which, with one exception, are likely to satisfy most collectors. To begin with the exception, Anneke Uittenbosch's playing of Book 2 of the |48' on...

Bach: The Brandenburg Concertos.
May 1, 1993... This clutch of Bach recordings covers many facets of the composer's output in performances which, with one exception, are likely to satisfy most collectors. To begin with the exception, Anneke Uittenbosch's playing of Book 2 of the |48' on...

Handel: Theodora.
May 1, 1993... Some plausible anecdotes suggest that Handel was rather upset by the lack of attention his London public paid to Theodora: he is even reported as saying that he regarded the |Hallelujah' chorus at the end of Part Two of Messiah as inferior to...

Haydn: Viennese Harpsichord Music.
May 1, 1993... Gudrun Dengler's recording features works dating from the period 1765 to 1776, but the concentration is on Haydn's published oeuvre of the early 1770s. The sonatas Hob.XVI:23, 24 and 26 belong to a set of six sonatas (Hob.XVI:21-6) dedicated...

Haydn: Harpsichord Sonatas From Before 1770.
May 1, 1993... Gudrun Dengler's recording features works dating from the period 1765 to 1776, but the concentration is on Haydn's published oeuvre of the early 1770s. The sonatas Hob.XVI:23, 24 and 26 belong to a set of six sonatas (Hob.XVI:21-6) dedicated...

Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 4 and 6.
May 1, 1993... Two problems stare the performers on these Schubert discs in the face. First, apart from Symphony no.8, the music is not of the highest rank and requires exceptionally fine playing to bring it off. Like a kind of Viennese Robin Holloway,...

Schubert: Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6.
May 1, 1993... Two problems stare the performers on these Schubert discs in the face. First, apart from Symphony no.8, the music is not of the highest rank and requires exceptionally fine playing to bring it off. Like a kind of Viennese Robin Holloway,...

Chopin: Scherzi and Ballades.
May 1, 1993... There is scarcely a need to rehearse here the well worn arguments for and against so-called authenticity in performance. But it is worth remarking that since the authenticity movement has now advanced up to at least the middle of the last...

Early instruments by Canadians. (Canadian Museum of Civilization, Ottawa, Canada)
May 1, 1993... The exhibition |Opus' opened at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, located in Canada's capital region of Ottawa-Hull, in December 1992, and is scheduled to end in September 1994. On show are over 100 Canadian-made musical instruments,...

Antoine Busnoys Quincentenary Conference. (University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana)
May 1, 1993... South Bend is a long way from Tours, Brussels, Bruges, or any of the places where Busnoys lived and worked. What might he have thought of this gathering of a hundred or so, meeting in a place that he never knew existed, assembled to assess...