Album

The Orlando Consort once again shows its intelligence and educated approach to Renaissance-era music, while not denying the beauty of the pieces. The album is a demonstration, in varied works, of the contenance angloise, the sound that distinguished English music of the fifteenth century from that of the continent. This release pays particular attention to votive antiphons, although there are also a few mass movements included. According to the excellent notes about the works in the accompanying booklet (which also includes lyrics), these were probably written for private chapels or choirs. The more intimate sound of the three- or four-voice works was recorded in a small parish church, so the amount of resonance is appropriate to the original use. There is no huge, hollow-sounding chamber to make the words unintelligible on this recording. The survey begins with works by contemporaries of John Dunstaple and includes a lovely example of Dunstaple's isorhythmic motets in Salve scema. The two upper voices, using two different texts about St. Catherine of Alexandria, wind around the two lower voices, which ground the work with a chant used for her feast day. Another piece from around the same time is the Audivi vocem, a responce that alternates lively, four-voice polyphony with homophonic plainchant, a real contrast of the "old" and the "new." Mixed in with anonymous works of the time are pieces by John Plummer and Walter Frye, representatives of the generation following Dunstaple. Their works show more imitation and passing of melody between voices. The survey ends with Stella Celi by Walter Lambe, from the Eton Choirbook. In all of these pieces, there is clear but complementary independence of lines, sung with grace and a reverence for the music.

© Patsy Morita, All Music Guide

CD 1
Anonymous, English Composer Stella celi (15th century) Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
1	Stella celi (15th century)	5:05			$0.99
John Pyamour Composer Quam pulchra es (a3) Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
2	Quam pulchra es (a3)	3:38			$0.99
Forest Composer Tota pulcra es, a3 Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
3	Tota pulcra es, a3	3:23			$0.99
John Bennet Composer Gloria (a3) Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
4	Gloria (a3)	4:16			$0.99
John Dunstable Composer Salve scema sanctitatis (isorhythmic motet, a4), MB30 Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
5	Salve scema sanctitatis (isorhythmic motet, a4), MB30	6:50			$0.99
John Bennet Composer Credo (a3) Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
6	Credo (a3)	3:59			$0.99
John Plummer Composer Tota pulchra es Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
7	Tota pulchra es	4:10			$0.99
Anonymous, English Composer O pulcherrima mulierum Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
8	O pulcherrima mulierum	2:21			$0.99
Anonymous, English Composer Sanctus Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
9	Sanctus	5:51			$0.99
Anonymous, English Composer O sanctissime presul Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
10	O sanctissime presul	3:21			$0.99
John Plummer Composer Anna mater matris Christi Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
11	Anna mater matris Christi	4:59			$0.99
Anonymous, English Composer Audivi vocem Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
12	Audivi vocem	3:06			$0.99
Walter Frye Composer Ave Regina caelorum, a3 Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
13	Ave Regina caelorum, a3	2:09			$0.99
Richard Mowere Composer Beata dei genitrix Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
14	Beata dei genitrix	2:31			$0.99
Anonymous, English Composer Ave regina celorum, antiphon Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
15	Ave regina celorum, antiphon	2:20			$0.99
Anonymous, English Composer Gaude virgo Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
16	Gaude virgo	5:20			$0.99
John Trouluffe Composer Nesciens mater Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
17	Nesciens mater	1:26			$0.99
Walter Lambe Composer Stella Caeli (a4) Work Orlando Consort Early Music Ensemble
18	Stella Caeli (a4)	5:56			$0.99