![]() ![]() The four-member Orlando Consort, which prides itself on its scholarship in the authentic performance practice of music of this period, including adherence to Medieval tuning systems, sings this rarified and austere repertoire with absolute tonal purity and balance, but also with passion and expressivity. The anonymous fifteenth century motet "Lullay, lullow: I saw a swete seemly sight," sung in Chaucerian English, is particularly moving. The very earliest pieces from the eleventh century Winchester Troper are among the first examples of polyphony, or multiple melodies being sung simultaneously, and the most recent works are early Renaissance motets. For the listener who is eager to hear Christmas music as Medieval Europeans would have heard it, this CD is a treasure. This is not recognizably "Christmas music," but it's beautiful in its strangeness. The title of this album by the Orlando Consort - Medieval Christmas - should be taken at face value - this is not the kind of familiar merry Renaissance music that is sung and played by costumed revelers at madrigal dinners, this is unaccompanied vocal music primarily of the eleventh through the fifteenth centuries, presented without accommodation to the expectations of contemporary audiences. ![]() And although it will be the rare listener who recognizes any of these works, that actually is a good thing: what can be wrong with stretching our knowledge and experience a little bit, especially when it comes to a tradition so comfortable and familiar as Christmas? Thomas, and the Circumcision (the First of January).Īs we've come to expect, the singing is first-rate-vibrant, impeccably tuned, and with a strong rhythmic vitality, supported by ideal sound. Stephen to the Feasts of the Holy Innocents, St. Further, the program is divided into logical sections that relate to the music's function and association with the various feasts of Christmas, from the Masses for Christmas Day and St. The four male singers who make up the Orlando Consort (here joined by occasional collaborator Robert MacDonald) have proven to be crafty programmers with such engaging releases as Medieval Gardens and Food, Wine, and Song (see Reviews), and here they manage to organize their careful selections in a way that both flows well and makes it easy to discern and appreciate the music's stylistic distinctions, from early polyphony to the almost crude-sounding secular rondeau of Dufay to the elegant Clemens non Papa motet Pastores loquebantur. The challenge then for performers is to both provide an exemplary realization of the music and style for seasoned early-music aficionados while also providing illuminating context for novice listeners to happily explore what remains an endlessly fascinating and continuously vital area of music history. In fact, these carols, motets, and songs sound just like any other music from the periods in question, so a listener intrigued by a disc title such as "Medieval Christmas" will be confronted with what sounds like any other "early music" vocal program. What this means for modern compilations of Medieval Christmas repertoire-which also includes motets, songs, and chant-is that most of the music will have no overt connection to Christmas for today's listeners. In the 10th or 12th or 15th centuries, Christmas as we know it hadn't been invented, and such things as carols were yet to be defined as a specifically Christmas genre-indeed they could pop up at any time of year, and were as likely to celebrate the birth of Spring as the Babe in Bethlehem. Pastores loquebantur by Jacobus Clemens non Papa O admirabile commercium by Loyset Compèreĩ. Lullay, lullow: I saw a swete semly syght by AnonymousĨ. Vox in Rama by Jacobus Clemens non Papaħ. Label: Harmonia Mundi Catalog #: 907418 Spars Code: DDDĬomposer: Anonymous, Arnold De Lantins, Guillaume Dufay, Jacobus Clemens non Papa.
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