French Sacred Music of the 14th Century, Vol. 1

This time of year seems particularly appropriate and, with the trying circumstances of this period especially, listening to early sacred music is both relaxing and renewing.  The Early Music Series by Lyrichord Discs Inc. has a large selection of great recordings, this one dating to 1994.  Recorded at Emmanuel Church in Boston, the seventeen pieces are performed by Schola Discantus, comprised of a quintet including two countertenors (a tough range to achieve for men), a pair of tenors and a baritone, and the director and producer is Kevin Moll.

As Moll explains in his lengthy and detailed notes, the earliest pieces are likely from about 1320 and some are early in the next century and come from a collection of roughly a hundred Mass settings from the era.  Moreover, he explains that "many, perhaps most, of the Mass settings on this disc were presumably sung at one time or another in the papal choir at Avignon during the so-called 'Babylonian captivity' of the papacy (1309-1377) or under the succeeding anti-popes there during the period of the papal schism (1378-1417), when there were popes at both Rome and Avignon."  So, there is historical context of interest along with the intrinsic beauty of the polyphonic singing by the quintet, mainly performed in trios, and greatly enhanced by the setting of the 1861 Gothic Revival church, albeit Episcopal, just off the Boston Common.  This is a beautiful recording for contemplation during the Christmas season, whether or not the listener is a believer.

New York's Ensemble for Early Music: Istanpitta

This blogger's first hint at early music was listening to a Dead Can Dance album in the early 90s, but it wasn't until some years later that a recording of medieval music played on original instruments was purchased, one of several in the collection.

Of these, one of the finest is this 1995 release on Lyrichord's Early Music Series, highlighting the excellent work of New York's Ensemble for Early Music, led by Frederick Renz and featuring guest artist, percussionist Glen Velez.  Playing period instruments, including familiar ones like lutes, bagpipes, and dulcimers, but also some obscure examples such as the ciaramella, vielle, rebec, gemshorn, and organistrum, the ensemble described itself as "A Medieval Dance Band."  That being the case, they play on this album as if they're partying like it's 1299!

Styles of performance include the estampie (or, in Italian, "istanpitta") for five of the tracks, four saltarellos and two sets of dance pairs.  As the liner notes from a University of Toronto music professor, Timothy McGee, indicate, even with the information for about 50 total works and fragments and descriptions of instruments from the era, "poetic/artistic license is always present to varying degrees" even in period literature describing the music.

Renz, in his notes, wrote that, based on what is known, he "has invented accompanying parts in two and three voices for the estampies" outside of the established melodic line.  He added that "the arrangements heard on this recording are this writer's realizations with improvisations by the members of the Ensemble for Early Music."  This, he observed, is "in the spirit of extemporization practiced by dance musicians from the middle ages to the present" and "will be interpreted anew in performances to come."

With the added support of the masterful Velez, the group's work on Istanpitta is very impressive, espcially with the clarity of the recording and the acoustics provided at the St. James Chapel at St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York, where the taping was done in November 1994.  Anyone curious about or interested in early music should enjoy this wonderful work.

The World of Early Music

The amazing Naxos label, having produced so many excellent budget-priced classical recordings, has a line of "Early Music" albums, with an explanatory note for its 2-CD The World of Early Music set stating that "we limit the term Early Music to cover a period ranging from plainchant to the end of the seventeenth century."

This album consists of a first CD dealing with "Medieval and Renaissance Music" and the second with "The Baroque," or, rather, that generalized delineator before Handel, Bach, Vivaldi and the like.  In any case, The World of Early Music is filled with remarkably variable types of music, mostly from rather obscure composers and sources, with representation from better-known figures like Hildegard van Bingen from the plainchant side, Palestrina's sacred music, John Dowland's vocal and lute songs, Monteverde groundbreaking operatic work, Purcell's instrumental pieces, the fugues of Pachebel and Corelli's sonatas and concerto grossos.

While The World of Early Music is an overview, it is questionable whether the 2 hour and 33 minute length, although certainly generous and comprehensive, is suited for those new to the genre.  This listener's first exposure to the music came with a curious late 1990s release from Deutsche Harmonia Mundi's Adventures in Early Music, which, while featuring ensembles that play with period instruments, also has several pieces that extend far beyond the era most people assign for early music and contained, for example, pieces by Mahler and Barber, though beautifully performed.  A couple discs of Gregorian chants followed and an interest in this very specific religious music developed.

Not long after that, a personal connection to early music arose when the brother of a friend, Brian Asawa, recorded duets of lute and vocal music by Dowland and others.  Brian, a countertenor, sent the disc himself and this will be a blog post on its own, as he and his lute-playing partner delivered a fine recording of this little-heard music.

The World of Early Music is a more recent purchase of perhaps a few years back, but, having some grounding and a high degree of appreciation for the genre certainly made it easier to enjoy and digest the extraordinarily generous sample that Naxos produced. 

Though much of the first disc consists of religious works, given that this was the predominant nature of music in the medieval and early renaissance periods, a listener need not be of faith to enjoy the plaintive and simple pieces, many without instrumental accompaniment, that are included.  Other works are that of troubadors from the 12th and 13th centuries, while instrumental music begins to be represented with 15th century early Renaissance performances.  Also of note is a sample of the songs of Sephardic Jews of pre-1492 Spain, consort music which instrumentally took on what previous vocal polyphony provided, and the development of early keyboard music, principally the organ.

The second disc takes the listener, especially those who enjoy the late baroque work of Bach, Handel and Vivaldi and those who like opera, closer to modern forms of classical music.  While religious music, it is five of twenty-three samples, and the development of more complex instrumental music is highlighted.  The harpsichord is prominent through the work of uncle and nephew, Luis and Francois Couperin.  Finally, the larger ensemble work of Corelli points the way to those who would follow in the later baroque.

The set comes a very helpful and detailed set of unattributed notes and a list of dozens of Naxos recordings from the series that show the range and variety of the broad "Early Music" category.  It may not be an ideal introduction, but The World of Early Music is certainly a superlative summary.