December 2002

The Medieval Baebes

A somber year ends on an unexpected note as the normally somber Millennium management is taken away by the heretofore-resisted charms of these nine young women who recreate the Middle Ages (of a sort); we'll be joined by chief Baebe Katherine Blake and sample their four recordings.

Composer: WALTER von der VOGELWEIDE (1170-1230), JUAN RUIZ (fl.~1400), BOCCACCIO, GALLOWAY, Piae Cantiones (1582), Katherine Blake

CD Info: Virgin CD # 7243 8 46229 2, Virgin CD # 7243 8 46229 2, RCA/BMG CD # 0 6700 30156, Nettwerk CD # 0 6700 30256.

Eya Pueri: A Medieval Christmas

As we have done since 1979, we will have a quiet all-musical celebration of the season of Christ's birth.

Composer:

CD Info: CD # OP 30207.

Clemens non Papa: The Shepherd’s Mass

The Shepherd's Mass — continuing our exploration of music from the Lowlands in honor of Bruges 2002, we hear this charming setting of a mass dedicated to the Shepherds who were told of Christ's birth, by this composer who lived in Bruges (as well as Antwerp and Ypres).

Composer: JACOB CLEMENS non PAPA (1510/15--1555/6).

CD Info: CDGIM 013.

Bergen Festival 2002

Our friends at the most recent Bergen festival also presented a sweeping and rare Requiem mass in 2002—the beautiful setting by the Bohemian composer who spent most of his creative life in the court at Dresden, Jan Dismas Zelenka.

Composer: JAN DISMA ZELENKA (1679-1745), JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685-1750)

CD Info:

Music for Mary and a Jesuit Requiem–Funerailles pour un grand Jésuite–

Both Marian devotions and meditations on our own passing are appropriate for the Advent season. One of the most beautiful performances from Utrecht 2002 was Le Concert Spiritual directed by Herve Niquet with the Litanies of the Virgin by Charpentier and a very rare requiem by the early Baroque composer Pierre Bouteiller.

Composer: MARC-ANTOINE CHARPENTIER (?1645/50--1704), LOUIS CHEIN (?c.1636--1694), PIERRE BOUTEILLER (?c.1645-after 1698).

CD Info: CD # 8.553173.