Paraty

Ymaginacions

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson

Ymaginacions
Ludford: Mass Upon John Dunstable’s Square
La Quintana, Jérémie Couleau
Paraty 1123291. 61’15


Following on from their Heavenly Songes recording, reviewed here, the four strong enseble La Quintana returns to Nicholas Ludford for another of his mass settings, the Missa Feria II based, as the title reveals, on “John Dunstable’s Square”. The Square is a complex bit of Renaissance musicology that is helpfully explained in the CD notes. The recording is based on music that might have been heard in the medieval Royal Chapel of St Stephen’s, the undercroft of which still exists in the bowels of the Houses of Parliament in Westminster.

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Fragments

~ Andrew Benson-Wilson ~ 1 Comment

Claude Ledoux: Notizen-Fragmente (2009/13)
Jean-Pierre Deleuze: Voici l’absence – Cinq déplorations en antiphonie (2011)
Cindy Castillo, organ, Aurélie Frank, voice
PARATY 114122.  69:39’

If ever an organ was designed for the performance of contemporary music, it is the 1981 Detlef Kleuker instrument in Notre-Dame des Grâces au Chant d’Oiseau in Brussels, designed by Jean Guillou as a successor to his 1978 ‘hand of God’ organ in Alpe d’Huez.  In this CD, two talented young Belgian musicians perform works composed for them by Belgian composers Claude Ledoux and Jean-Pierre Deleuze. The combination of organ and solo Cindy Castillofemale voice is a beguiling one. In this case it is enhanced by a generous acoustic, fascinating music, an extraordinary organ and excellent recording techniques (the engineer gets his own CV in the booklet) – and, of course, by the musically and technically virtuosic organ playing of Cindy Castillo (left) and singing of Aurélie Frank (below). Continue reading →