SACDs - Victoria

Page: 

 1   2 

 Next >>

Prices shown exclude VAT. (UK tax is not payable for deliveries to United States.)
See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates.

Passion & Resurrection

Passion & Resurrection

Music inspired by Holy Week


Byrd:

In resurrectione tua

Cornyshe:

Woefully arrayed

Crecquillon:

Congratulamini mihi

Gibbons, O:

Hosanna to the son of David

I am the Resurrection

Guerrero:

Maria Magdalene

Lasso:

In monte Oliveri

Lhéritier:

Surrexit pastor bonus

McCabe:

Woefully arrayed

Morales, C:

O Crux, ave

Tallis:

O sacrum convivium

Tavener:

Dum transisset

Victoria:

O vos omnes


Texts inspired by the dramatic events of Holy Week and Easter, set to music by some of the greatest Renaissance composers are the basis of this new hybrid SACD from Stile Antico. Included are two settings of the poem 'Woefully arrayed': the first by William Cornysh, the second composed for Stile Antico in 2009 by John McCabe (b. 1939). This is its first recording and Stile's first foray into contemporary music.

Stile Antico is the benchmark ensemble of young British singers, working without a director and conducting much of their own artistic research for their programmes and concise, yet entertaining booklet notes. Much in demand in concert, the group performs regularly throughout Europe and North America. Their recordings on harmonia mundi have enjoyed great success, winning awards, including the 2009 Early Music Gramophone Award for Song of Songs.

Their performances have repeatedly been praised for their vitality and commitment, expressive lucidity and imaginative response to text. Stile Antico’s recent engagements include débuts at the BBC Proms, London’s Wigmore and Cadogan Halls, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, early music festivals in Boston, Bruges, Barcelona and Utrecht, and at the Cervantino Festival in Mexico. The group has toured extensively with Sting, appearing across Europe, Australia and the Far East as part of his Dowland project 'Songs from the Labyrinth', and is regularly invited to lead courses at Dartington International Summer School.

“The performances are second to none, rivetingly presented with all the skill of master musicians who have been doing this for years—the miracle is that they are all young, and yet still are able to penetrate the essence of these wonderful works. Need I say more?” Audiophile Audition, 31st October 2012 *****

“The run-up to Christmas seems hardly the most propitious time to release an Easter-themed anthology of choral music, but regardless, Passion & Resurrection is to be welcomed both for its skilled execution, and for clever programming” The Independent, 3rd November 2012 ****

“Beautifully presented as always...Is the perfectly blended Stile Antico sound too uniform for all this varied music? The clarity of Taverner's Dum transisset is lovely, but Tomás Luis de Victoria's O vos omnes lacks some Spanish passion.” The Observer, 4th November 2012

“The McCabe piece...is beautifully tailored to the 12 voices of the choir. Although fiendishly difficult to perform, they manage it with superb poise and great dynamic sensitivity and projection. Clearly this is a group that can sing in tune, mantain its balance and enunciate words clearly.” BBC Music Magazine, Christmas 2012 ****

“Stile Antico are probably at their best when the music invites them to sing out. The preference for a choral over a chamber music sound is clearly deliberate (as is the slow tempo adopted for the more solemn English pieces).” Gramophone Magazine, Janauary 2013

Super Audio CD

Format:

Hybrid Multi-channel

Harmonia Mundi - HMU807555

(SACD)

$17.50

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Maestros Del Siglo De Oro

Maestros Del Siglo De Oro

Masters From The Golden Century


Guerrero:

Sacrae Cantiones

Morales, C:

Officium Defunctorum

Missa Pro Defunctis, A 5

Victoria:

Cantica Beatae Virginis


Building a Library

Featured - May 2011

Super Audio CD

Format:

Hybrid Multi-channel

Alia Vox Heritage - AVSA9867

(SACD - 3 discs)

$23.50

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Song of Songs

Song of Songs


 

Antiphons: Dum esset rex, Nigra sum, Laeva eius, Speciosa facta es, Iam hiems transiit & Alleluia:Tota pulchra es

Plainchant

Ceballos:

Hortus conclusus

Clemens:

Ego flos campi

Gombert:

Quam pulchra es

Guerrero:

Surge propera amica mea

Ego Flos Campi

Trahe me post te, Virgo Maria

Lasso:

Veni dilecte mi

Lhéritier:

Nigra sum (5vv)

Palestrina:

Osculetur me osculo oris sui

Nigra sum sed formosa

Victoria:

Vadam et circuibo civitatem

Vidi speciosam

Vivanco:

Veni dilecte mi


The most 'profane' book of the Old Testament was among the favourite biblical texts of the Middle Ages. The composers of the Renaissance made particular use of it as a metaphor of divine love, or in association with the cult of Mary. After their first two extremely successful recordings, the singers of Stile Antico have chosen some of the most sumptuous examples of these musical settings.

“…the superb singers of Stile Antico are up to the challenge of presenting all the required moods from pious restraint… to melting abandon… a magnificent display of the very best kind of polyphonic music.” BBC Music Magazine, May 2009 *****

“The standout piece is Tómas Luis De Victoria's epic motet "Vadam et circuibo", a masterpiece of polychoral ingenuity.” The Independent, 29th May 2009 ****

“This ensemble, its members still in their 20s and just a dozen beautifully blended voices singing a cappella, has emerged as one of the best and freshest early music choirs around. Their third CD is a selection of motet and plainchant settings from the Song of Songs, the startling Old Testament collection of erotic love poems ascribed to King Solomon.” The Observer, 3rd May 2009

“…these are just the sort of performances I'd hope to hear in church, which was (one feels) the practical and creative laboratory for what is recorded: full but not strained singing, allowing an advantageous acoustic and the number (212) and freshness of voices to take care of blend and balance, with plenty left in reserve for the longer spans of the two magnificent Victoria anthems, Vadam et circuibo and Vidi speciosam.” Gramophone Magazine, August 2009

“One expectation that such an album may raise in its listeners is an answer to the question of what common and special inspiration might composers have taken from contemplating this most erotic of Biblical texts. The symptoms of their reactions might be sensuous melismas, perhaps, and anguished suspensions, surging bass–lines and… let us draw a veil there. Such devices and stratagems are in abundance, whether chastely deployed in turn by Clemens and Palestrina or flaunted all at once in the selections of Guerrero and Gombert, though no more so than they would be on a programme of Marian or Lenten devotions; and these are just the opening four tracks.
That unfair calculation ignores the plainchant antiphons between each pair of motets. These interspersions work well – as they must in a genuinely liturgical context, as here, thanks to the quiet good taste and stylistically homogeneous approach of Stile Antico, with an especially winsome unanimity to the female–only Tota pulchra es.
Indeed, these are just the sort of performances one would hope to hear in church, which was (one feels) the practical and creative laboratory for what is recorded: full but not strained singing, allowing an advantageous acoustic and the number (12) and freshness of voices to take care of blend and balance, with plenty left in reserve for the longer spans of the two magnificent Victoria anthems, Vadam et circuibo and Vidi speciosam.”
Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

GGramophone Awards 2009

Best of Category - Early Music

GGramophone Magazine

Editor's Choice - August 2009

Super Audio CD

Format:

Hybrid Multi-channel

Harmonia Mundi - HMU807489

(SACD)

$17.50

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Victoria: Requiem

Victoria: Requiem


Victoria:

Requiem 1605 'Officium defunctorum'

Salve Regina

Ave Regina caelorum a 5

Nigra sum

Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui

Trahe me post te

Ave Regina caelorum for eight voices

Taedet animam meam

Versa est in luctum

Libera me Domine


This recording features the celebrated Requiem of 1605, Victoria's final composition and a work of beguiling beauty and sumptuous simplicity. It can be seen as the summation of both his art and the Spanish Renaissance tradition. The beautiful plainsong on which it is structured can be heard arching through the texture, forming a delicate and sinuous line throughout. Subtly accompanied by a chamber organ and bajón, it is recorded here with the same forces as may well have performed it originally in the Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales. The Requiem is preceded by Marian Antiphons interspersed with three motets setting texts from the Song of Songs.

“Harry Christophers imbues this account with maturity and assurance as well as a deep understanding of the music's architecture. He inspires some impassioned singing from the choir - plumbing the depths in the Offertory to depict the 'deep pit' and 'the pains of hell', and elsewhere using a range of rhetorical gestures to heighten intensity.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2005 *****

“…The Sixteen's new offering… builds on their previous recordings by complementing the voices with a chamber organ and the wonderfully robust-sounding bajón, an early Spanish bassoon whose use in polyphonic performances of the period is well documented.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2005

Penguin Guide

Rosette Winner

Super Audio CD

Format:

Hybrid Multi-channel

Coro - CORSACD16033

(SACD)

$16.75

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Roma Triumphans

Roma Triumphans


Benevoli:

Gloria de la Missa Dominus Angeli

Giorgi:

Offertoire Terra Tremuit

Motet Haec Dies

Motet Veni Sancte Spiritus

Motet Beata es Virgo Maria

Motet Exultate omnes

Motet Quae est ista

Marenzio:

Super flumina Babylonis

Lamentabatur Jacob

Palestrina:

Laudate pueri

Jubilate Deo

Victoria:

Laetatus sum for twelve voices


Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal (SMAM), Christopher Jackson

By 1500, Rome had surpassed Florence as the artistic capital of Italy. The composers whose works you will hear on this hybrid SACD disc were those who brought the art of music to its finest levels in the high Renaissance, and who were foremost in the Counter-Reformation's artistic response to Protestant asceticism. The sources for all the music on this recording, whether published or unpublished manuscripts, are Roman. The Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal (SMAM), a group of 13 to 18 professional singers, is accompanied here by cello, organ, and theorbo. While specializing in Renaissance and Baroque music, SMAM is also known for performances of contemporary music. Christopher Jackson co-founded SMAM in 1974, and has been its artistic director since 1988. A noted organist and harpsichordist, he has been a leader in Montreal's early music scene for more than 30 years.

Super Audio CD

Format:

Hybrid Multi-channel

Atma - SACD22507

(SACD)

$17.75

(also available to download from $10.50)

Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.)

Page: 

 1   2 

 Next >>

Composers

Copyright © 2002-13 Presto Classical Limited, all rights reserved.