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Stile Antico - A Wondrous Mystery: Renaissance Choral Music for Christmas (2015)

Posted By: Designol
Stile Antico - A Wondrous Mystery: Renaissance Choral Music for Christmas (2015)

Stile Antico - A Wondrous Mystery: Renaissance Choral Music for Christmas (2015)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 292 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 172 Mb | Artwork included
Label: Harmonia Mundi | # HMU807575 | Time: 01:12:55
Classical, Choral, Sacred, Renaissance

Stile Antico's 2015 release on Harmonia Mundi, A Wondrous Mystery, is a sublime collection of Renaissance choral music for Christmas, presented in a pleasant mix of familiar German carols and a mass, with tracks interspersed for the sake of variety. This makes sense in consideration of the group's broad audience, which may know such popular hymns as Michael Praetorius' Ein Kind geborn in Bethlehem and Es ist ein Ros entsprungen, or Johannes Eccard's Übers Gebirg Maria geht and Vom Himmel hoch, yet be somewhat at a loss with the motet and Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis by Jacobus Clemens non Papa, a composer beloved by early music specialists but not exactly a household name for lay listeners. However, the a cappella performances are consistently beautiful and soothing throughout, and the quietly joyous mood of the music fits the album's title perfectly. The 12-voice choir's blend is well-balanced and transparent, and the ambience of All Hallow's Church, Gospel Oak, London gives an ideal resonance for the group's small size and close miking.

Review by Blair Sanderson, Allmusic.com

Stile Antico - A Wondrous Mystery: Renaissance Choral Music for Christmas (2015)

In the first couple of decades after the advent of the CD, new and reissued Christmas releases were as plentiful as the stars in a clear winter sky. It seemed that every label, along with every choir, large and small, professional and amateur, was engaged in the effort to plenish this new catalog with both existing and newly recorded programs–dozens and dozens of them–of all of the most popular Christmas repertoire. Most of it consisted of carol arrangements, performed by the big-name British university and cathedral choirs, augmented by contributions from French, German, Canadian, and American groups.

Eventually, a few wise men (and women) answered the question “how many more choral Christmas recordings of the same carols and songs sung by the same choirs do we need every year?” with the reply, “probably not so many”. Once you have your favorite half dozen or so collections from King’s, or Trinity, or Westminster, or Christ Church, or the Cambridge Singers, you’ll most likely be looking for something a little different next year.

Meanwhile, choral ensembles such as the Tallis Scholars, The Sixteen, Theatre of Voices, and Anonymous 4 devoted themselves to satisfying listeners’ receptiveness to the new and unusual with serious, scholarly, and engaging explorations of pre-18th-century repertoire whose themes and texts were definitely “Christmas”, but were for the most part not known or revered as staples of the modern Christmas canon. This was music (often in Latin, old English, and various European languages) that served a purely liturgical function (masses and motets, chants and canticles), or, in the vernacular, a secular, decidedly celebratory purpose, all of it written and sung before the Christmas we know today, of “Deck the hall” and “Silent night”, was invented.

Here, the 12-voice ensemble Stile Antico, which specializes in Renaissance polyphony, continues that tradition, with a consistently entertaining and often enlightening program of mostly late-16th century works by “continental” composers, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, some well-known (Praetorius; Clemens; Hassler) and others infrequently heard (Handl; Eccard). A sort of anchor for the program is Jacobus Clemens’ Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis, whose movements are separated by motets by Handl, Eccard, and Hassler, and a Magnificat by Hieronymus Praetorius.

The opening Ein Kind geborn in Bethlehem by Michael Praetorius (not related to Hieronymus) properly sets the tone, its festive annunciation, sung bright and clear in a dancing triple meter (and with impeccable diction and intonation), tells the story of the birth, the manger, the kings, its meaning for all people of the earth, and ends with a rousing praise “now and evermore!”Later we hear Praetorius’ Es ist ein Ros entsprungen–but between its verses Stile Antico inserts a marvelous canon on the same tune by German composer Melchior Vulpius, a nice touch that happily upsets our expectations and enhances our appreciation of an all-too-familiar piece.

Clemens’ motet on which he bases the Mass is itself a masterful piece of extended polyphony, reminiscent of similarly unfurling, near-cadenceless, cross-relation-spiced creations of Clemens’ contemporary Nicolas Gombert. The Mass may be the program’s “big” work, but Hieronymus Praetorius’ Magnificat is one of the two special highlights, with its well-integrated tribute to the famous tune “In dulci jubilo” and some absolutely sublime singing. The other, perhaps more memorable work, is Jacob Handl’s Mirabile mysterium, whose exotic chromaticism and wild harmonic twists beg comparison to the accepted master of such things, Gesualdo. Where did this come from–and are there any more?

The rest of the disc is filled, if not with such extreme surprises, then certainly with the same standard of superlative ensemble singing and well-chosen music that will make this a favorite recording for all Christmas choral collectors, joining the group’s earlier Puer natus est from 2010, which featured Advent and Christmas works by Tudor composers. You won’t hear finer singing anywhere; and the Praetorius and Handl pieces will guarantee you’ll return to this disc more often than just for the holidays.

Review by David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com


Stile Antico - A Wondrous Mystery: Renaissance Choral Music for Christmas (2015)



Tracklist:

01. Michael Praetorius (1571-1621): Ein Kind geborn in Bethlehem (3:27)
02. Jacobus Clemens non Papa (1510-1556): Pastores quidnam vidistis (5:01)
03. Michael Praetorius / Melchior Vulpius (1570-1615): Es ist ein Ros entsprungen (2:57)
04. Jacobus Clemens non Papa: Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis - Kyrie (5:52)
05. Jacob Handl (Jacobus Gallus) (1550-1591): Canite tuba (2:10)
06. Jacobus Clemens non Papa: Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis - Gloria (8:12)
07. Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629): Magnificat quinti toni (11:26)
08. Jacobus Clemens non Papa: Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis - Credo (10:10)
09. Jacob Handl: Mirabile mysterium (4:07)
10. Johannes Eccard (1553-1611): Übers Gebirg Maria geht (2:56)
11. Jacobus Clemens non Papa: Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis - Sanctus & Benedictus (7:34)
12. Johannes Eccard: Von Himmel hoch (2:01)
13. Hans Leo Hassler (1560-1629): Hodie Christus natus est (3:15)
14. Jacobus Clemens non Papa: Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis - Agnus Dei (3:47)


Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015

EAC extraction logfile from 8. December 2016, 22:25

Stile Antico / A Wondrous Mystery

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==== Log checksum D8D08B92F8BF531EE99D6A1D05992C2EDD018AE8DB5D370E8F7486D4F62702C2 ====

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2017-09-12 17:52:15

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Analyzed: Stile Antico / A Wondrous Mystery
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR14 -4.63 dB -24.13 dB 3:27 01-Michael Praetorius: Ein Kind geborn in Bethlehem
DR13 -3.40 dB -21.85 dB 5:01 02-Jacobus Clemens non Papa: Pastores quidnam vidistis
DR13 -4.91 dB -22.93 dB 2:57 03-Michael Praetorius / Melchior Vulpius: Es ist ein Ros entsprungen
DR12 -5.55 dB -22.99 dB 5:52 04-Jacobus Clemens non Papa: Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis - Kyrie
DR11 -7.64 dB -22.94 dB 2:10 05-Jacob Handl (Jacobus Gallus): Canite tuba
DR13 -5.45 dB -23.03 dB 8:12 06-Jacobus Clemens non Papa: Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis - Gloria
DR14 0.00 dB -19.61 dB 11:26 07-Hieronymus Praetorius: Magnificat quinti toni
DR14 -3.59 dB -23.42 dB 10:10 08-Jacobus Clemens non Papa: Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis - Credo
DR14 -0.23 dB -22.54 dB 4:07 09-Jacob Handl: Mirabile mysterium
DR13 -1.59 dB -21.06 dB 2:56 10-Johannes Eccard: Übers Gebirg Maria geht
DR13 -4.90 dB -23.94 dB 7:34 11-Jacobus Clemens non Papa: Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis - Sanctus & Benedictus
DR12 -2.21 dB -20.12 dB 2:01 12-Johannes Eccard: Von Himmel hoch
DR13 -4.40 dB -21.76 dB 3:15 13-Hans Leo Hassler: Hodie Christus natus est
DR12 -3.51 dB -21.83 dB 3:47 14-Jacobus Clemens non Papa: Missa Pastores quidnam vidistis - Agnus Dei
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 14
Official DR value: DR13

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Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 550 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

Stile Antico - A Wondrous Mystery: Renaissance Choral Music for Christmas (2015)

All thanks to original releaser

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