Motets c.1500

The Brightest Heaven of Invention

Flemish Polyphony of the High Renaissance
New London Chamber Choir - James Wood
Amon Ra 56

Contents:

1. Regis: O admirabile commercium
2. Obrecht: Factor orbis
3. Josquin: Preter rerum serium
4. Brumel: Nato canunt omnia
5. Obrecht: Salve crux
6. Busnois: In hydraulis
7. Dufay: Ave regina celorum
8. Busnois: Anthoni usque limina

Playing time: 60'

Recording date: November 1991

This performance is by a small, mixed chamber choir. The selection is quite admirable.

This repertory remains the heart of Franco-Flemish polyphony, and by extension, of Renaissance music.

Other broadly-based motet collections featuring music of this stylistic era:

Passion

Orlando Consort
Metronome 1015

Musical Book of Hours

Pomerium - Alexander Blachly
Archiv Produktion 457 586

The A-La-Mi-Re Manuscripts

Flemish Polyphonic Treasures for Charles V
Josquin / De la Rue / Willaert
Capilla Flamenca
Naxos 8.554744

I Fiamminghi - IV

O admirabile commercium
Brumel, Regis, Mouton, Josquin
Cappella Pratensis - Rebecca Stewart
Ricercar 207572

Josquin Desprez - De Passione

Motets de Josquin, Obrecht, Compère et Weerbecke
Odhecaton - Paolo Da Col
Assai 222 222

Motets by Busnoys, Josquin, and Gombert

Capella Alamire - Peter Urquhart
Titanic 202

A very fine selection of music from a slightly later generation:

Musica Vaticana

Music from the Vatican Manuscripts (1503-1534)
Pomerium - Alexander Blachly
Glissando 001

Selected recordings featuring significant individual composers in the mid-to-late fifteenth century Franco-Flemish style:

Obrecht: Sacred Music

Missa O lumen ecclesiæ / Missa Malheur me bat
Ars Nova Secunda Chorus - János Bali
Hungaroton 31772

Isaac: Virgo prudentissima

Müncher Dommusik - Karl-Ludwig Nies
Christophorus 77218

Busnois: Missa "O crux lignum" / Motets / Chansons

Orlando Consort
Harmonia Mundi USA 907333

Other items for these composers are listed under the links above.

Selected programs featuring somewhat more obscure composers from this era:

Compère: Mass, Motets, Songs

Orlando Consort
Metronome 1002

Agricola: A Secret Labyrinth

Huelgas Ensemble - Paul Van Nevel
Sony "Vivarte" 60760

Tinctoris: Missa Sine Nomine / Missa L'Homme Armé

The Clerks' Group - Edward Wickham
Cyprès "Musique en Wallonie" 3608

Walter Frye

Hilliard Ensemble
ECM New Series 1476

Regis: Missa Ecce Ancilla Domini / Missa Dum Sacrum Mysterium

Schola Discantus - Kevin Moll
Lyrichord 8044

Nesciens Mater

Choral works of Jean Mouton
The Gentlemen of St. John's - Graham Walker
Quilisma 402

Finally, a couple of more general compilations from the period:

La Chapelle des chantres des Ducs de Lorraine

Thérache / Lasson / Motets de Lorraine
Ensemble Cantus Figuratus / La Traditora - Dominique Vellard
K617 056 (Collection Mémoire Musicale de la Lorraine)

Codex Speciálník

Hilliard Ensemble
ECM New Series 1504

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