January 2023

Orpheus Records Returns Part 2

The famous sub-label under the Musical Heritage Society has been revived with some lost rarities. This week: "The Cries of London" with the Ambrosian Singers and "Shakespeare: The Sweet Power of Music" with the New York Consort of Viols.

Composer: THOMAS MORLEY (1557-1602) , THOMAS RAVENSCROFT (c. 1590 – c. 1633) ,THOMAS WHYTHORNE (c. 1528- - ?) , CHRISTOPHER TYE (c. 1500 – c. 1573), RICHARD DERING (c. 1580-1629/30) , JOHN BENNETT (A. 1600), WILLIAM BYRD (1543-1623) , HENRY YOULL (A. 1600) , EDWARD JOHNSON (A. 1600), JOHN HILTON (d. 1608), Jacob van Eyck (1590-1657), Thomas Simpson (1582 - c.1625), Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)

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Remede de Fortune

The latest project from Scott Metcalfe and the Blue Heron Ensemble and the instrumentalists of Les Délices reminds us how Lady Hope can counsel the lovelorn.

Composer: Guillaume de Machaut’s (1300-1377)

CD Info: Blue Heron CD BHCD 1012

Landscape of the Polyphonists

In honor of the 50th anniversary of their founding, the Huelgas Ensemble released a recording of composers familiar like Josquin and Gombert, and rare (Baston, Hasprois, and Celliers de Hesdin!).

Composer: Johannes Symonis Hasprois (ca.1360-1428), Antoine Busnois (ca.1430-1492), Johannes Ockeghem (1420-1497), Josquin Desprez (1455-1521), Antoine de Févin (1470-1511), Jean Mouton (1459-1522) , Nicolle des Celliers de Hesdin (1490-1538), Jean l'Héritier (1480-1552), Josquin Baston (1495-1550), Pierre de Manchicourt (1510-1564), Nicolas Gombert (1495-1560)

CD Info: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi CD 19439955002

Pedro de Cristo

The rarely-heard music of this Portuguese Renaissance composer has sparkling new interpreters in the Ensemble Cupertinos and director Luis Toscano dedicated to the composer’s Marian settings.

Composer: Pedro de Cristo (c.1550-1618)

CD Info: Hyperion CDA68393, HYPERION CDA68393

A Byzantine Emperor at King Henry’s Court

The ensemble Cappella Romana takes us to 1400, when Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, who sought foreign aid for besieged Constantinople, spent Christmas at the court of King Henry IV.

Composer:

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