Gothic Voices & Andrew Lawrence-King – The Splendour of Florence with a Burgundian Resonance (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:15:27 minutes | 1,46 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Linn Records
Following its Gramophone Editor’s Choice album Echoes of an Old Hall , Medieval expert Gothic Voices has recorded The Splendour of Florence , a collection of Franco-Flemish music that was found in or associated with Florence. Occupying pride of place, Dufay’s motet Nuper rosarum flores is widely thought to reflect the proportions of the newly completed dome of Florence cathedral, for which it was written at the cathedral’s consecration in 1436. The other works – by Franco-Flemish composers Ockeghem, Busnois, Tinctoris, van Ghizeghem and others – are taken from a couple of Florentine chansonniers, which in turn document the wide dissemination of their music in the thriving Tuscan city. This album thus showcases Florence in all its splendour and lavishness, a city that proved a creative magnet for the highly-skilled and inventive compositional work of the outstanding composers of the Burgundian tradition.
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Jordi Savall, Ton Koopman, Rolf Lislevand, Andrew Lawrence-King – Diego Ortiz : Recercadas del Tratado de Glosas (1553) (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 49:37 minutes | 814 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Alia Vox
Review from Diapason magazine #363 (abridged)
Reviewer: Denis Morrier
“Denis Morier underlines quite judiciously the importance of this recording of the “recarcadas” of Diego Ortiz. He writes: ” This is “… another revelation from Savall (as always in those ancient repertories that he explores with such an open mindedness,…); not only does it come from a famous musician and theorician…, but it stems from a buoyant and tumultuous art, full of exacerbated passions and tensions which are continuously revived.”
As we read on, he mentions that “Savall provides a broad selection from the various types of ricercadas located by Ortiz (only those based on Gregorian melodies are excluded), thus embellishing his choices with accompaniments of a wide variety, always splendidly performed. We can appreciate the volubility and the rhythmic exuberance which characterizes Ton Koopman’s performance – the hapsichordist often engaging in truly virtuoso exchanges with the soloist – as well as the inventiveness and delicacy of the harpist, Andre Lawrence-King. Being so well supported, Jordi Savall can let go all his poetical inspiration, without adornments, but giving to these pieces on the contrary a truly dramatic dimension… “.
Morier concludes his review by branding Savall as “the angel of the viola da gamba who performs… another miracle, giving a new dimension to these didactic pieces and puts them in a new perspective, shedding a new light on the Renaissance period.”
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