Eurasia Consort’s new album, Music of Paradise, explores folk songs and dances from Tang Dynasty courts. It feels like an unbroken link to a past too often overlooked in the West. For this journey, the musicians immersed themselves in Chinese artwork and old manuscripts from the 7th through the 9th centuries.
Music from the Tang Dynasty Read More »
Volume 2 of Cut Circle’s complete Josquin cycle, gloriously sung, includes motets from the 1480s and the ‘smutty’ Missa L’ami baudichon. Director Jesse Rodin’s startling approach to Josquin moves away from that smooth Anglican-style choral sound. The five-voice ensemble makes a satisfying new argument for how this polyphony might have sounded.
Visceral Josquin from Cut Circle Read More »
This reassessment of musical culture — particularly religious music — in 15th-c. Bohemia tries to look beyond the nationalist agendas that have previously colored scholarly work on this topic. As a rare holdout for monophonic chant and an area undergoing theological reform in the late Middle Ages, the region provides rich topics for this collection of essays written through an updated lens.
Bohemian Myths, Bohemian Facts Read More »
From a tribute sent by Stanley Ritchie’s family to EMA: “Liberating” is the term he used after switching from modern to Baroque violin, adding, “After playing so many years professionally as a [modern] violinist, I found playing Baroque violin akin to driving a sports car!” A memorial celebration is planned for April, 2027.
Stanley Ritchie: A Family Remembrance Read More »
The debut recording from South Carolina-born harpsichordist Gabriel Smallwood asks who made the young J.S. Bach. Smallwood is imaginative and technically assured in pieces mostly in the North German style with its free, episodic forms, its dense counterpoint, and its long, improvisatory flourishes.
Music Fit for a Teenage Bach Read More »
