# NPP Day 5



## science (Oct 14, 2010)

Listened to the Swan Lake Suite last night - really a challenge because the dynamic range on that is ridiculous, so I had to adjust up and down the volume a lot. But it is worthy music, certainly.

I might already own a DVD of the ballet - I need to check, because it turns out CDs aren't the only things I've been purchasing in excess - but I'd like to hear it. My recent enjoyment of Adam's Giselle has re-opened my mind to ballet.










Lovely stuff. I put it on because it was on my list, and because I'd just listened to Stephen Micus' Athos.










Then I was in the mood for more, and this came up.

My sense is that these particular recordings of Machaut and Josquin are not particularly famous, and you might want to shop around for the famous ones, but one way or another this is beautiful and neglected music. The Machaut disk there has a bit of chant in addition to the singing, and I know that won't appeal to everyone. The Josquin disk is pure singing all the way through.

So far I've been adding music to the project faster than I've been listening. My stats for now: 668 hours of music to go.


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## Guest (Jul 30, 2011)

Keep up the good work! Apologies for the trite comment - I posted something else first, but decided to move it to my blog. Now I can't figure out how to delete this comment.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

love tchaikovsky, but josquin is a more recent "discovery" for me as well. love his motets & also got his "missa pange lingua" on the same disc. he was as big (& as significant to the contemporary scene, as well as historical impact) as some one like beethoven. josquin was seen as a "big gun" of his time, but he is almost of fringe interest now, only known amongst renaissance or choral fans. this is a pity, some of his "wall of sound" sonorities remind me of guys like ligeti & penderecki. not to speak of other innovations like imitation & illustraton of the sacred texts, rather than just plain-chant like gregorian chant (his innovations, or at least refinements of his, we really know quite little about his life, a lot of it is a "blank page," so quite difficult to surmise things like how / where he got his influences from, so much gaps in the early music record / histories). i was just listeing to a motet of his last night as a "breather" between longer things. 3 minutes of pure joy, ethereal, spiritual, probing, deep, all that. amazing guy, amazing stuff. i'll have to get into that again, which is this aussie cd on the "tall poppies" label - sydney chamber choir, dr nicholas routley at the helm -

Illibata Dei, Virgo nutrix
Ave, Christe
Plainchant: Pange Lingua
Missa Pange lingua
Absalon, fili mi
Inviolata, integra, et casta es Maria - find this one on youtube, i know it's there (another recording) - bloody amazing piece! short & sweet, as they say. it's the last track on the cd, they "left the best till last!!!"...


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I will look for Inviolata. Thanks guys!


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