Musicology Commons^™

Review Of Harry Christophers And The Sixteen, La Jeune France, Vicki Stroeher

Music Faculty Research

Harry Christophers and The Sixteen (which, on this disc numbers from twelve to twenty-four singers) have assembled an exciting recording of rather unusual repertoire: that of the group of composers known as La Jeune France. Although these works may not speak aesthetically to everyone, the performances certainly will. The group's tuning is impeccable and their diction clear, even when the composer deliberately obscures the text. Christophers' interpretations are neither heavy­handed nor overly controlled, even as the chorus's expression ranges from the primitive and aggressive to the quiet and mystical.

Review Of Poulenc: Messe En Sol, Litanies A La Vierge Noire, Motets Choeur De Chambre Accentus Laurence Equilbey, Conductor 1997 Accord, Vicki Stroeher

Music Faculty Research

When conductor Laurence Equilbey established the Accentus Chamber Choir in 1991, she and the group set out to perform unaccompanied repertoire of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In this recording of Francis Poulenc's sacred works from 1936 to 1953, one detects a decision well served. Equilbey and the group approach Poulenc's repertoire with a deep understanding of the period, the composer's spirituality and its effect on his creative psyche, and his obvious debts to Stravinsky, Faure, and early Catholic traditions. Poulenc's intensely spiritual sacred works are not easy to reconcile with his earlier secular and more satirical offerings, but Equilbey …

Rallying Round Our Liberty, Wendell Dobbs, Leo Welch, Linda Dobbs, Neil Cadle

Recordings

No abstract provided.

Review Of The Hilliard Ensemble, Guillaume De Machaut: Motets. Ecm Records, 2004, Vicki Stroeher

Music Faculty Research

The motets of Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377), though described by one scholar as "conservative and backward-looking" because of their heavy use of French texts, nonetheless provide a rich melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic palette for the extraordinary voices of the Hilliard Ensemble. The ensemble's recording of eighteen of the twenty-three known works in this genre (a twenty-fourth exists, but its attribution is spurious), is exemplary and should delight both the medieval scholar and the casual listener.

Review Of Trio Mediaeval, Soir, Dit-Elle, Ecm Records 2004 And Words Of The Angel, Ecm Records 2001, Vicki Stroeher

Music Faculty Research

This pair of discs by Trio Mediaeval offers an imaginative soundscape of music both ancient and new. Trio Mediaeval's approach to the ancient is laudable and lovely, but the contemporary compositions written specifically for this all female group seem to give them their truest voice. The older recording, Words of the Angel (2001), intersperses movements of the Tournai mass--one of the earliest manuscript compilations of polyphonic settings of the texts of the Ordinary—among monophonic laudae and English Marian motets and sequences. The various styles provide textural and harmonic relief, a real concern in a completely unaccompanied recording. The recording takes …

Review Of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Christus, Kirchenwerke Iii, Kammerchor 2004 Stuttgart, Bamberger Symphoniker, Frieder Bernius, Conductor. Carus-Verlag, 1987., Vicki Stroeher

Music Faculty Research

Carus-Verkag, Frieder Bernius, and the Stuttgarter Kammerchor have produced a number of impressive recordings to serve as companions to their impeccable printed editions of valuable, but seldom performed, choral works. Mendelssohn's music has been championed in at least six of these recordings, and showcases an undeniably rich output that until now has received scant attention. The present disc aims to reverse that fortune. Christus features three early works from 1822 to 1825, when the composer was just thirteen to sixteen years old, along with late works from 1843 and 1847. Even the earliest of these works provides evidence of Mendelssohn's …

George Grove And Victorian Culture, Vicki Stroeher

Music Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Review Of Andrea Gabrieli, Missa Pater Peccavi, Motets And Instrumental Music, 2003 His Majestys Consort Of Voices, His Majestys Sagbutts And Cornetts, Timothy Roberts, Conductor. Hyperion, 2000, Vicki Stroeher

Music Faculty Research

Any recording that focuses solely upon the music of Andrea Gabrieli, the other Gabrieli, risks languishing in store bins, forgotten by all but the most musicological of listeners. This recording, fortunately, should not suffer that fate.

Director Timothy Roberts, His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts and the newly formed His Majestys Consort of Voices have put together a celebration of Andrea Gabrieli that is as well performed as it is researched. Though some of the scoring choices are unusual, the performances are nearly impeccable with but a few exceptions.

Review Of Benjamin Britten, Sacred And Profane, Amdg, Five Flower Songs, Old French Carol, Choral Dances From Gloriana, Polyphony, Stephen Layton, Conductor. Hyperion, 2000, Vicki Stroeher

Music Faculty Research

The choral works of English composer Benjamin Britten (1913-76), like his efforts in other forms, have been overshadowed by his operas. War Requiem, essentially operatic in character, along with Rejoice in the Lamb, and A Ceremony of Carols, have risen to the top of the choral repertoire and receive the majority of the attention paid today as concert and recording fare. These, however, obscure a number of other excellent works in Britten's choral output. Sacred and Profane, a release by Stephen Layton and Polyphony, provides a useful glimpse at some of Britten's lesser known works for mixed chorus, including previously …

0583: Janice Chandler Papers, 1969-1976, Marshall University Special Collections

Guides to Manuscript Collections

Huntington, West Virginia music educator. Papers include a script for "200 years celebration of Cabell county," a bicentennial musical presentation that was never produced.

Charles Nicholson – The Forgotten Flutist, Wendell Dobbs

Music Faculty Research

The recent fascination for the flutist-composers of the 19th century has brought to life much music by flute virtuosos such as Tulou, Demersseman, Boehm, Genin, and others. To this time, however, the colorful artistry of Charles Nicholson has been overlooked. His brief career, spanning but two decades, brought the flute to the forefront as a solo instrument in England and propagated numerous fantasies, variation, methods, and other works for flute. Indeed, his contributions as flute virtuoso and flute manufacturer have made an indelible mark on the history and development of the instrument. In the London of the 1820's and 1830's …