From the Imperial Court (SACD review)

Music for the House of Hapsburg. Stile Antico. Harmonia Mundi HMU 807595.



Stile Antico (ancient style) is a relatively small British choir of about a dozen singers who specialize in music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Founded in 2001, they have made all of their records so far for Harmonia Mundi, this latest called From the Imperial Court and featuring music written for the ruling Hapsburgs of the 1600's.



A booklet note explains that the Hapburgs were one of Europe's most extraordinary ruling dynasties, controlling "greater or lesser portions of Europe from the 11th century until 1918, their heyday coinciding with the supreme musical flourishing of the 16th century." They "essentially ruled Spain, Germany, Austria, Burgundy and the Low Countries" throughout the century. As "successive generations enlarged their power and territory, they gathered around themselves the leading composers of the day." Thus, Stile Antico have chosen what we must assume is some of the best of the music written for the House of Hapsburg in the sixteenth century: eleven selections from as many different composers, each item exquisitely handled.



Some listeners may know the composers, all born in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth centuries, but I found most of them new to me. Names like Cristobal de Morales, Thomas Crecquillon, Thomas Tallis (ah, finally a familiar name), Josquin Desprez (fairly familiar), Ludwig Senfl, Nicolas Gombert, Pierre de la Rue, Jacob Clemens non Papa, Alfonso Lobo, and Heinrich Isaac.



I won't try to describe each piece; the booklet notes do a good job in that regard, providing a background on the composition of each work in addition to texts and translations. While most of the music is in the form of motets--polyphonic songs, usually on Biblical or similar prose texts and meant for use in church services--the various court composers involved in this recording wrote most of the music we hear for events of state, such as occasions celebrating newly acquired lands and power. Well, they were that kind of people: church and state entwined. At least one composer, de la Rue, hung around writing "soulful music" for a despondent and "increasingly insane" widow. Wonderful stuff.



Favorites? Yes, I of course. I enjoyed Morales's opening "Jubilate Deo" for its spacious grandeur. Crecquillan's "Andreas Christi famulus" has a likable luxuriousness about it. Desprez's "Mille regretz" has a touching simplicity about it (and apparently King Charles liked it, too, as it was also one of his favorite songs). A few of the selections were a little too mournful for me, but the motet "Versa est in luctum," which Lobo wrote for his own funeral, is quite lovely. Then, too, the closing number--Isaac's "Virgo prudentissima"--sounds beautifully elaborated.



But picking favorites seems superfluous. It's really the splendid singing that counts here, and all of it is wonderful. Although there are only a dozen singers in Stile Antico, they sound almost like a full choir, their voices blending so well, the harmonies so exacting, the tone and timber so precise, so lilting, lyrical, and soaring. I think I could listen to them sing anything. For the record, they are Helen Ashby, Kate Ashby, Rebecca Hickey, and Alison Hill, sopranos; Emma Ashby, Eleanor Harries, Katie Schofield, and Cara Curran, altos; Jim Clements, Andrew Griffiths, Benedict Hymas, and Matthew Howard, tenors; and James Arthur, Will Dawes, Thomas Flint, and Matthew O'Donovan, basses.



Producer Robina G. Young and engineer and editor Brad Michel recorded the music in Direct Stream Digital at All Hallows' Church, Gospel Oak, London in October 2013. One can play the resultant Super Audio CD in two-channel stereo on a regular CD player or in two-channel or multichannel on an SACD player. I listened in the two-channel format and found the results more than satisfying.



Probably the most striking thing about the recording besides the fact that it's clear and detailed is how prominent the acoustic stands out. The ensemble members actually appear to be in a reverberant hall with a healthy decay time, the ambient bloom giving the voices both a richness and a sense of place. Yet, as I say, this setting never interferes with the clarity of the voices, which always project a healthy transparency. Perhaps the upper midrange is a mite forward, seeming a tad too bright on occasion, but otherwise there's a fine balance involved.



JJP



To listen to a brief excerpt from this album, click here:

Passion & Resurrection (SACD review)

Music inspired by
Holy Week. Stile Antico. Harmonia Mundi HMU 807555.

Stile Antico (“ancient style”) is an early-music vocal
ensemble of British singers who formed in 2001 and specialize in music of the
Renaissance and early Baroque. They have already recorded half a dozen albums
for Harmonia Mundi, and this latest one, Passion
& Resurrection, offers a series of thirteen selections based on texts
inspired by Holy Week and Easter. It presents a cross-section of composers from
England and the European continent that take the listener from Jesus’s entry
into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday through His Last Supper on Maundy Thursday, the
Crucifixion on Good Friday, and the resurrection on Easter day.

The composers range in date from the fifteenth to
twentieth centuries, some of them famous, some of them not so much. They
include William Cornysh (1465-1523), Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), Thomas Tallis
(c. 1505-1585), Orlande de Lassus (1532-1594), Cristobal de Morales (c.
1500-1553), Tomas Luis de Victoria (c. 1548-1611), John McCabe (b. 1939), John
Taverner (c. 1490-1545), Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599), William Byrd
(1540-1623), Jean Lheritier (c. 1480-1551), and Thomas Crecquillon (c.
1505-1557).

The program begins with William Cornysh’s “Woefully
Arrayed,” a poem given fresh musical fittings from John McCabe over four
centuries (and five tracks on the disc) later. McCabe’s version is a little
secular sounding but still reverent. Did I have any favorites among the
selections? Certainly, Thomas Tallis’s “O sacrum convivium” encapsulates
everything good about this early musical genius. It’s beautiful in its harmonic
structure and sung to perfection by Stile Antico.

There is an especially intent devotional quality to
Cristobal de Morales’s “O crux, ave” that is hard to resist. And Thomas
Crecquillon’s “Congratulamini mihi” is lovely in the extreme, while exuding a
feeling of joyfulness, exultation, and inspiration. But to pick favorites among
so many engaging tunes is fruitless. Take your pick; they’re all a joy.

The singing is the special pleasure of Stile Antico,
though. Although there are only about fifteen persons involved in this
particular production, they sound almost like a full choir, their voices
blending so well, their harmonies so exacting, their tone and timber so
precise, so lilting, lyrical, and soaring. I think I could listen to them sing
anything. For the record, they are Helen Ashby, Kate Ashby, Rebecca Hickey, and
Alison Hill, sopranos; Emma Ashby, Eleanor Harries, Carris Jones, and Martha
McLorinan, altos; Jim Clements, Andrew Griffiths, and Benedict Hymas, tenors;
and James Arthur, Will Dawes, Oliver Hunt, and Matthew O’Donovan, basses. You’d
swear there were two or three times their number singing.

Recorded in exemplary fashion by Harmonia Mundi at All
Hallows Church, Gospel Oak, London in 2012, the sound is most pleasing on the
ear. HM recorded it in stereo and multichannel on this SACD hybrid disc, so
depending on your playback equipment, you can listen to it either way; I
listened in stereo on an SACD player, and it sounded splendid. There’s a sweet
ambient glow around the voices, making them sound very much in a large, mildly
reverberant church acoustic. However, the resonance is not so great as to
cloud, veil, or diminish the vocals in any way. It simply makes them appear
richer and fuller. The ensemble sound entirely natural in this setting, the
voices miked at a moderate distance to provide a realistic presentation, the
singers sounding warm, smooth, and lifelike, never bright or edgy. Each section
of the choir--indeed, each individual member--comes across clearly and
distinctly.

The foldout Digibook packaging contains an extensive,
forty-five page booklet of notes, pictures, and texts. Moreover, a healthy
seventy-one minute running time contributes to the album’s appeal. It’s all
very impressive.

To hear a brief excerpt from this album, click here:





JJP

Tune thy Musicke to thy Hart (SACD review)

Tudor & Jacobean music for private devotion. Stile Antico, Fretwork. Harmonia Mundi HMU 807554.



First, a description of the music. Most of us probably think of Renaissance music as played either by minstrels for the entertainment of the masses or by choirs and such for liturgical services. Apparently, however, there was also a good deal of music for private, domestic devotion, secular religious music for use in the home. The present album offers a selection of fifteen songs from the English Tudor and Jacobean eras (1500's and 1600's), played by the English vocal ensemble Stile Antico, accompanied by the English consort of viols, Fretwork.



Some of the composers may be familiar to you, others not so much.  Among the better known names are John Taverner (c. 1490-1545) with "In nomine (Missa Gloria tibi Trinitas)," Thomas Tallis (c. 1505-1585) with "Purge me, O Lord," John Dowland (1562-1626) with "I shame at my unworthiness," William Byrd (c. 1540-1623) with "Why do I use my paper, ink and pen?" and Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) with "See, the Word is incarnate." Lesser-known names (at least to me) include Thomas Tomkins, John Amner, Robert Ramsey, Robert Parsons, Giovanni Croce, and, to a lesser degree, Thomas Campion.



I liked this line from Matthew O'Donovan, who sings bass with the group, from his booklet essay:  "In hindsight the shaking of the Church music at the Reformation could be said to represent little more than a historic example of evangelicals bringing 'pop' music into worship." Certainly, we hear the overlap of popular, secular, and ecclesiastical music in these tunes.



The singing is a special joy. While there are only about a dozen singers in Stile Antico, they almost sound like a full choir, their voices blending so well, the harmonies so exacting, the tone and timber so precise, so lilting, lyrical, and soaring. What's more, the five members of Fretwork also contribute to the performances seeming bigger than the sum of the participants, Fretwork's instruments lending subtle but solid support. Most of their work we hear during the introductions to the songs and in the purely instrumental number "In nomine a 4 nos. 1 and 2 by Robert Parsons (c. 1530-1570).



The songs offer a unique glimpse into the evolution of music as we know it. But, more important, the songs are beautiful in and of themselves and perfectly executed by all involved.



Recorded for SACD at Air Studios, Lyndhurst Hall, London, in February, 2011, the sound is as realistic as one could imagine. In the two-channel stereo mode of this hybrid stereo/multichannel disc (which I listened to on a Sony SACD player), the voices sound well defined and well separated, with a wide front-channel spread and ample depth. The viol accompaniment is subtle and well integrated into the sonic field. To make matters even better, the acoustic displays a touch of inherent hall resonance for a warm and natural effect, an effect the multichannel layer would undoubtedly enhance.



To complete the package, we get a well-explained, well-illustrated booklet insert, which also contains the full text and translations of the songs in English, French, and German. The package itself is a Digipak, which I don't care for all that much, but I can forgive this one drawback when the Harmonia Mundi folks have done everything else so well.



JJP

Troubadours, Trouveres & Minnesanger (CD review)

And Other Courtly Arts. Rene Clemencic, Clemencic Consort; Paul Hillier, Theater of Voices; Andrew Lawrence-King, The Harp Consort; The Dufay Collective; Drew Minter, contre-tonor; Mary Springfels, The Newberry Consort. Harmonia Mundi Century HMX 2908166.



Listening to this disc and reading the extensive booklet notes that go with it are a little like taking a history course. It's a bit overwhelming. Fortunately, if you just sit back and listen to the music, the album can provide quite a lot of enjoyment, too.



The music here covers the Middle Ages; it's volume four of twenty compilation titles in the Harmonia Mundi "Century" series that also includes music of the Antique, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and modern eras.



The album reviewed here covers five areas of the Middle Ages. The first is the music of the troubadours of Southern France in the 11th and 12th centuries. Troubadours were, as the booklet explains, the "first known representatives of lyric poetry which can be described as secular (that is, non religious) and more specifically as courtly." Today, we tend to think of troubadours as wandering minstrels or singers, but now we know they were more than that, at least in the beginning. Rene Clemencic and his Clemencic Consort, aided by soprano Pilar Figueras, perform three songs of the troubadours to start the program. While the tunes aren't exactly showstoppers, they do give us a feeling for the age, and the singing is splendid.



The next section of the album covers "The art of the Trouveres," who sort of took up where the troubadours left off, this time in Northern France in the 12th and 13th centuries. Here we find seven song selections done by Andrew Lawrence-King and the Harp Consort, aided by the vocals of Stephen Harrold, Julian Podger, Ian Honeyman, Paul Hillier, and the Theatre of Voices. I found this selection of tunes somewhat hit-and-miss, but there is no denying the artistry involved.



The third segment of the album was my favorite, the Cantigas de Santa Maria, canticles (poems or songs of praise) from Spain in the 13th century, mostly dedicated to the King of Castille, Alfonso X the Wise. Here, the Dufay Collective present primarily instrumental music, and it's lively and engaging, practically stealing the show.



The next section of the program involves the music of the 13th, 14th, and 15th-century German minnesingers (singers of love songs). Again, we get more courtly songs of romance, performed by Mary Springfels and the Newberry Consort, with help from Drew Minter, David Douglass, and Kevin Mason. It's all quite lovely, actually, if a bit heavy.



The program concludes with two selections from the Carmina Burana. No, not the one by Carl Orff; that came much later, with Orff finding his material in the original Carmina Burana of the 13th century, a manuscript discovered in the Bavarian monastery of Benediktbeuren. While I can't say I liked the music much, the Clemencic Consort, who opened the album, close it as well as one could expect.



The sound, which comes from several previously released Harmonia Mundi recordings bearing publication dates between 2003 and 2005, is uniformly excellent. Whether the ensembles are relatively large or simply duets, the sonics treat them with clarity and cleanness, featuring a wide stereo spread when necessary and a wonderful sense of presence. The acoustics are often quite resonant, providing a pleasant and realistic ambient bloom on the music. Dynamics are strong and pointed, and midrange transparency is top notch without adding any brightness or edge in the process. When the sound needs depth, we get depth; when it needs a quick transient response, we get a quick transient response; and when voices need a natural accuracy, we get a natural accuracy. Very nice.



JJP

Treasures of Christ Church (CD review)

Stephen Darlington, the Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. Avie AV2215.



The Choir of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, has been doing this kind of thing for close to five hundred years, singing beautiful songs. No, not the same choristers, although by the degree of polish they display, you'd think the present singers had been around for ages.



Cardinal Wolsey appointed the first Cathedral Choir director, John Taverner, in 1526, and the choir has been going strong ever since, led by such distinguished directors as Taverner, William Walton, Simon Preston, and its current leader, Stephen Darlington. The makeup of the Cathedral Choir includes twelve men and sixteen boys, the men lay clerks and choral scholars or academical clerks, the boys, students at Christ Church Cathedral School and ranging in age from eight to thirteen, chosen for their musical skills. The present disc lists seventeen choristers, five altos, five tenors, six basses, three instrumentalists on one selection, and organist (director) Clive Driskill-Smith.



The seventeen selections in the program contain works by composers from the sixteenth century to the present, all of the works having strong ties to the cathedral and its library of original manuscripts. I won't try to cover all of the selections, but I will point out a few tracks I found particularly affecting.



Zadok the Priest by George Frideric Handel begins the concert, the piece justly famous and exercising the choir's dynamic range. In contrast to the Handel, the next number is Set me as a seal by twentieth-century English composer William Walton, the music more personal and featuring more individual singing.



Speaking of singing, one cannot overlook the musical accomplishment of the choir. They perform with refinement and distinction throughout, the articulation precise, the harmonic integration letter perfect. The singing is a pleasure to the ear.



The next piece is one of my favorites, Thomas Tallis's Salvator mundi, a hauntingly lovely work sung with conviction. Almost of equal beauty is the Ava Maria of Robert Parsons, a more complex piece of music than its sixteenth-century composition date would indicate.



Benjamin Britten's A Shepherd's Carol is just famous and given a sensitive reading by the choir, with some especially fine solo passages. Likewise, Bethlehem Down by Peter Warlock comes across with sweet assurance.



Of all the twentieth-century music on the album, John Rutter's Canticle of the heavenly city perhaps sparkles the most radiantly. Then, Thomas Weelkes's Hosanna to the Son of David brings the festivities to a fittingly triumphant conclusion.



Avie recorded the choir in the Chapel of Merton College, Oxford, England, in March, 2011. The choir likes to boast that their sound is as much a product of their venue as the singers, and certainly the Merton College setting flatters the presentation. As we might expect, the sonics are wide and spacious, yet they are reasonably intimate, too, a pleasant combination. Although miked at a modest distance, the organ seems a trifle soft and the voices at times a tad bright. Played too loudly, things can sometimes appear a bit fierce, but at a realistic volume level that approximates what one might hear live, the choir sounds clean and vibrant, the acoustic warm and accommodating, and the separation of voices excellent.



JJP

Tristan & Iseult (CD review)

Henri Ledroit, Anne Azema, Ellen Hargis, Richard Morrison, William Hite, and Andrea von Ramm; Joel Cohen, The Boston Camerata. Warner Classics Erato 2564 69634-0.



Tales of the brave Cornish knight Tristan (alternatively, Drystan, Tristrem, Tristram, depending on the country of origin and/or the translation) and his ill-fated love for the Irish princess Iseult (Isolde, Yseult, Isode, Isoude, Esylit, or Isotta) have been around at least as long as the Arthurian legends, maybe before them, meaning that bards, prose writers, poets, and singers have told and retold the legends many times over for the past 1500 years or quite possibly longer. Although the original storytellers set their accounts in Cornwall, probably nobody wrote them down (nobody we know of) until hundreds of years later, mainly French and German writers before the English took them up again.



What we have under review here is a recent Warner Classics reissue of the award-winning 1987 Erato recording (it won the Grand Prix du Disque in 1989) of medieval poems, songs, and music associated with the Tristan and Iseult legends, compiled by Joel Cohen and played by The Boston Camerata. It certainly makes for different and fascinating listening.



According to Maestro Cohen in a booklet note, "The Camerata has chosen to return to the oldest surviving sources for this program. You will hear some central elements of the story almost exactly as they were narrated in the Middle Ages in Germany and France. In our presentation, certain passages of the narration are spoken; others are sung to melodies of the same period, as was often the case with narrative poetry during the Middle Ages. All the music is drawn from manuscript sources of the early and later medieval period; about half of these songs were already associated with the 'Tristan' legend at the time, and the others are closely related in mood and content."



The music begins with an anonymous prologue, partly instrumental, partly recited, which sets the temper of the tragic romance in a lyrically atmospheric manner. From there we get an eclectic assortment of instrumental, ensemble, and solo pieces, mostly plaintive, melancholy, some bright and sprightly, each connected by narration, twenty-four selections in all, ranging from under a minute to over six minutes apiece.



The overall tone of the music, not surprisingly, sounds Celtic and most of the narration Germanic, French, and Old English. Countertenor Henri Ledroit is a particularly becoming Tristan, Anne Azema a tender Iseult, Richard Morrison a convincingly lusty King Mark, and Andrea von Ramm a sensitive narrator.



While I don't think anyone would mistake this collection of medieval music for Richard Wagner's celebrated opera, it does have the merit of at least some degree of authenticity. And you can hardly beat those ancient settings of the texts. It's fun in a fresh and pleasant way.



Erato recorded the program in September of 1987 at the Church of the Covenant, Boston, Massachusetts. Even though the sound is fairly close up and somewhat one-dimensional, it has the advantage of exceptional naturalness and clarity. Voices, which on many recordings can appear bright and forward, here seem just right--smooth yet vivid, with ensemble vocals given a small degree of room resonance for an effectively realistic ambience. Transient attack is quick and sharp, rendering the whole affair easy on the ear.



JJP

Cantate Domino (CD review)

Torsten Nilsson, conductor; Alf Linder, organ; Marianne Melnas, soprano; Oscar's Motet Choir.  LIM K2HD 025.



Audiophiles will undoubtedly have one version or another of this 1976 Proprius album sitting on their shelves.  The music is beautifully sung and beautifully recorded, and the disc has deserved its reputation through the years.  It's a collection of mostly sacred Christmas hymns, with a couple of traditional Christmas tunes thrown in for good measure (and sounding oddly out of place).  After sublime renditions of "Silent Night," "Hosianna Davids Son," "Christmas Song," and the like, the concluding "Zither Song" and "White Christmas" strike an odd note.  In fact, the performance of "White Christmas" with its jazzy organ accompaniment has always reminded me of a skating rink.



However, it's not the interpretations one talks about in a review of a new mastering of Cantate Domino.  It's all about the sound.  Producer Winston Ma says in the booklet note, "I know you have a Proprius copy, and most likely other versions as well.  I urge you to compare those recordings with this one; I think you will be pleased that you have the final and ultimate edition...."  Fair enough.  I did just that, placing the LIM and Proprius discs in separate CD players, adjusting the gain for identical outputs, and making the comparisons.  As always, though, straightforward comparisons don't always tell the full story because without a master tape in the room, one never knows for sure which version is closest to the original, only which version one likes best.



I seem to recall years ago being slightly disappointed with Proprius's CD transfer because it appeared to lose some bass compared to the LP.  Not so with LIM's K2HD remastering.  The bass is the most noticeable thing about the new disc.  If you want to make a comparison for yourself, try starting with "Maria Wiegenlied."  Behind the vocals it's got a big organ that sweeps over the listener like a wave.  Yet with the more prominent bass, the LIM reveals more low-end noise, too.  Oh, well....



The second most noticeable difference is in overall smoothness.  The LIM tends to sound slightly more natural, refining hard edges that seem a tad "digital" on the Proprius disc.  Yet with the increased smoothness, you lose the tiniest degree of perceived transparency, too.  I say "perceived" because, again, you don't know what the original master tape sounds like.  Likewise, the LIM transfer seems fuller in the mid and upper bass, making it sound bigger and mellower than the Proprius.  But which is right?



Winston would undoubtedly tell you that his K2HD remaster (engineered by Paul Stubblebine and Takeshi "Hakkaman" Hakamata) neither adds nor subtracts anything from the original tape, and we'd have to take his word for it.  Still, there is no way of telling for sure without actually hearing the LIM disc next to the original tape.  All I can say is that this new LIM remaster is a bit more pleasing to my ears than Proprius's own CD.  Whether the LIM is better than the Proprius CD I'll leave to the golden ears of other reviewers.  Frankly, after some thirty-five years of comparing LPs and CDs, the whole thing remains a mystery to me.



JJP