Refuge from the Flames: The Savonarola Legacy

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there are surprises awaiting you in this new recording … this is a beautiful performance of Allegri’s masterpiece, with a strongly devotional atmosphere to it. Suzi Digby’s tempo gives the music... — BBC Music Magazine, February 2017, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 23rd Sep 2016
Catalogue No: HMW906103
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Length: 77 minutes

Allegri: Miserere (Ben Byram Wigfield edit.)

Work length12:05

$1.40

$1.75

$3.20

ORA Singers

Giovanni Annimuccia, Girolamo Savonarola: Iesu, sommo conforto

Work length1:09

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

ORA Singers

Giovanni Annimuccia, Girolamo Savonarola: Alma, che si gentile

Work length1:54

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

ORA Singers

Giovanni Annimuccia, Girolamo Savonarola: Che fai qui, core?

Work length1:16

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

ORA Singers

Bettini: Ecce quam bonum

Work length2:33

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

ORA Singers

Verdelot: Letamini in Domino

Work length2:06

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

ORA Singers

Byrd: Cantiones sacrae, Book II: Infelix ego

Work length12:14

$1.40

$1.75

$3.20

ORA Singers

Ešenvalds: Infelix ego after Byrd

Work length11:31

$1.40

$1.75

$3.20

ORA Singers

Richafort: O quam dulcis

Work length4:24

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

ORA Singers

Jeune: Tristitia obsedit me, magno

Work length4:59

$1.00

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$1.60

ORA Singers

anon.: Ecce quomodo moritur

Work length1:47

$1.00

$1.25

$1.60

ORA Singers

Clemens: Tristitia obsedit me, amici

Work length8:43

$1.20

$1.50

$2.40

MacMillan: Miserere

Work length13:06

$1.60

$2.00

$3.20

ORA Singers

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Following the stunning success of their best-selling debut, Suzi Digby’s crack vocal ensemble ORA presents their new album: ‘Refuge from the Flames’. Dedicated to the legacy of Girolamo Savonarola, 15th century Dominican and religious reformer, this new CD further showcases ORA's commitment to bringing together Renaissance choral masterpieces and commissioned reflections from contemporary composers. ORA bring a wealth of experience that gilds these pieces, both new and old, into the lustrous works of art they truly are.

“We begin and end this second ORA album with two contrasting settings of the Miserere mei (Psalm 50, Vulgate). Over the centuries this text has inspired reflections by many Christian writers, none more influential than those by Girolamo Savonarola, and we have devoted much of this album to his extraordinary legacy. Central to the recording is Savonarola’s meditation on the psalm, 'Infelix Ego', written shortly before his execution. We present it here in William Byrd’s justly famous setting, and in a newly commissioned masterpiece by the Latvian composer Eriks Ešenvalds.” Suzi Digby OBE [artistic director & conductor]

Reviews

February 2017

there are surprises awaiting you in this new recording … this is a beautiful performance of Allegri’s masterpiece, with a strongly devotional atmosphere to it. Suzi Digby’s tempo gives the music space to resonate, the engineers find an evocatively distanced acoustic in which to set the solo quartet, and the ORA singers’ thoughtful, introspective phrasing distils a sense of spirituality difficult to communicate on record

January 2017

Yet again this group shows its considerable skill not only in expressive interpretation but in clarity of lines, subtlety of expression, and an ability to maintain an introspective atmosphere throughout

November 2016

Do you hear the grain of the polyphony and its twisting strands in this performance? Yes, rather more than from the ultra-smooth Collegium Vocale Gent … Digby opens with Ben Byram Wigfield’s new edition of Allegri’s Miserere, not quite as radically different from the known version as Graham O’Reilly’s but sharing some of the Australian’s distilling features and one alluring chromatic restoration.

8th December 2016

This is a programme that is as imaginative as it is varied. It has been thoughtfully conceived and the music is stimulating at every turn. As on their previous release, Suzi Digby and ORA prove themselves to be equally accomplished in music of the ‘Golden Age’ and in music of our own time. From start to finish the singing is superb and Digby and her ensemble lead the listener’s ear through the repertoire most persuasively

27th October 2016

Everything here is heard to best advantage, thanks to the choir’s clean, supple singing under Suzi Digby’s direction.

Record Review 11th December 2016

there’s a great clarity vertically through the voices; there’s more warmth, there’s more personality on the sound than we get from some English choirs…[they] flourish in a slightly more soloistic style…it’s a thoughtfully assembled, beautifully sung recital

Videos

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Refuge from the Flames

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