Perotinus: Viderunt omnes

Until recently the rôle of women as composers and performers of both sacred and secular music during the Middle Ages has been seriously underestimated.

This disc, sung by the all-female group Musica Ficta, reveals how well suited to women’s voices are music from Notre-Dame in Paris and the songs of many trouvères (the northern counterparts of the troubadours of Languedoc).

The latter songs, for instance, often feature female protagonists and present different perspectives on love and life to those by their male counterparts.

A survey of 1000 years of sacred music from the earliest Christian chant, through the richest polyphony of the renaissance, the classical age, to our own time. It begins with the chant of St Dunstan (c.909-988) Archbishop of Canterbury, and ends with the music commissioned from John Tavener for the BBC TV series “Seeing Salvation” the world premiere recording of this 21st century work.

Pérotin and the Ars Antiqua Winner of a Diapason D’Or (May 2007)

In all the excitement and immediacy of live performance the world-famous Hilliard Ensemble here displays the complex musical style of the Notre Dame school of around 1200 AD. They contrast this Parisian form with contemporary examples from south-western France and England.

Hilliard live 2: For Ockeghem

A tribute to the fifteenth-century master composer, Ockeghem. Interspersed with the music are parts of Guillaume Crétin’s Lament on the Death of the Late Ockeghem, Treasurer of Saint Martin of Tours, in a specially commissioned translation, read by Bob Peck.

Hilliard live 3: Antoine Brumel

This disc celebrates another late fifteenth-century composer - Antoine Brumel, who was one of the most influential composers of his generation. The disc includes his Missa Victimae paschali and Ave, virgo gloriosa.

Hilliard live 4: Guillaume Dufay

A Franco-Flemish composer and music theorist of the early Renaissance, Dufay was the central figure in the Burgundian School and was the most famous and influential composer in Europe in the mid-15th century. This disc includes his Missa Se la Face ay Pale.

Of The Hilliard’s recordings:

“… eloquence of worshipful music, winding through some amazing counterpoint.” The Times

“Supremely musical and overflowing with food for thought.” The Guardian

A celebration of the pioneering early music label Archiv, offering 55CDs ranged across the label’s entire 66-year history. Beautiful presentation, original jacket sleeves and documentation to the customary high standards of the label.

In more ways than one, 2013 will be an Archiv Produktion year. The beloved Silver Label – the “Early Music Studio of Deutsche Grammophon”, as it was called for many years – is being revived in a big way, both in frontline and catalogue. In early April 2013 an event in Berlin is being held to mark this relaunch. New albums from choral group Tenebrae, Anna Prohaska and Giuliano Carmignola are being released in the first quarter to coincide with this occasion.

Simple, striking and strong: in gleaming silver with the large blue Archiv Logo embossed on all sides. A large onsert on the top and back of the box details contents and is illustrated with a packshot showing contents.

Original Jackets: starting with the austere yellow covers of the 1940s and 1950s gradually giving way to the great historical illustrations and images that featured up to the 1990s, when artists at last began to make an appearance (there were no artist photos in the 1950s!)

The 180-page full-colour book has articles by journalist Nicholas Anderson, and “memoirs” by former directors of Archiv, Prof. Andreas Holschneider and Dr. Peter Czornyj, and Executive Producer, Marita Prohmann.

The book features many rare photos from Archiv recording sessions, as well as other memorabilia.