Zephyrus in Scotland

Zephyrus, Central Virginia's Early Music Vocal Ensemble™™ recently returned from an exciting experience. The ensemble -- which includes WTJU's own volunteer announcer Sandy Snyder -- sang as the choir in residence at St. Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland, July 8 - 14, 2013.

Below is a video clip of a few of the pieces the group performed. As you can see, their repertoire is quite extensive.

Missa Io son ferito ahi lasso by Orlando di Lasso
Magnificat in G minor by Henry Purcell
Beati quorum via by Charles Stanford
Psalm 42, setting by Wesley
And I Saw a New Heaven by Malcolm Archer
Sanctus from the Missa Brevis by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
Psalm 47, setting by Davy
Nunc Dimittis in G Minor by Henry Purcell



Our announcers aren't just music lovers. Some of them, like Sandy, are top-notch performers as well!

Review: Magnificent music by Philippe Rogier

Philippe Rogier: Music from the Missae Sex
Magnificat; Philip Cave, director
His Majexty's Sagbutts and Cornetts
Linn SACD

This outstanding recording by Magnificat features a set of masses by Philippe Rogier. Missa Inclita stirps Jesse is a parody mass, one of the higher expressions of a composer’s skill back in the 1500’s.

The idea was to take an opening polyphonic theme from another composer’s work (in this case Jacobus Clemens’ motet Inclita stirps Jesse), and develop the material in a different way. The quoted (or “parodied”) material would begin each part of the mass.

Rogier was from France, but made his fortune in the court of the Spanish king, Philip II. These choral works are very clean, and spare. There’s no mere filling in harmonies here – each vocal line has a purpose. The Missa Inclita stirps Jesse is a fine example of high renaissance counterpoint, with the motifs expanding outward in ever more complex (yet transparent) patterns.

Rogier’s Missa Philippus Secoundus Rex Hispaniae takes its theme from the musical spelling of King Philip’s name. Despite its rather unmusical origin, Rogier makes it the foundation for a mass that’s an amazing compositional tour de force. His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts join Magnificat for this work, doubling the vocal lines and shading them in subtle ways. This is indeed music to pull one’s mind to higher things.

Cudos go to Maginifcat, directed by Philip Cave. This early music vocal ensemble has a wonderful blend. The ensemble can be a seamless blend of sound when it needs to be, and clearly articulating multiple lines of counterpoint at other times.

And added bonus is the release of this recording in SACD format. The album is beautifully recorded, but to get the full effect of the performing space (something never far from any renaissance composer’s mind), one should really hear it through the SACD multi-channel format. Rogier’s counterpoint depends on the special relationships between the voices as well as the harmonic – it’s the difference between a 2D and a 3D image.

Ah, Bach!

Why do our volunteers give up their time to present programs of carefully-selected music for you? Well, here's a partial answer.

Rob Nowicki was hosting "The Early Music Show" on August 8, 2011, and aired a particularly strong lineup of music from Telemann, Graun, Purcell.... and Bach. 

Ah, Bach! 

Rob aired Bach's Cantata # 169 “Gott soll allein mein Herze haben” BWV 169,  from a Harmonia Mundi release featuring Bernada Fink, mezzosoprano; Frieburger Barockorchester; and Petra Mullejan, director.

After the program, he found the following voicemail from an anonymous caller, whose voice trembled with emotion.

“I am so happy to have heard this wonderful-not wonderful-magnificent!-ecstatic! divine! music…….The Bach has been beyond description-I am enchanted by it!  I wish to send to the man who has been taking care of it all blessings-blessings on him and many, many thanks.  Good bye.”

We know we air great music that can stir the soul. It's wonderful when we receive an occasional acknowledgement.

If you'd like to hear this soul-stirring program, it's available for on-demand listening from our online tape vault. But you need to act soon -- our archive only holds programs aired in the past two weeks, and after that, this show will be lost to the ages.

A Stirling Discovery

It's not hard to figure out how a piece should go -- you just follow the music (we'll keep the discussion simple and leave interpretation out of the equation for now). But what if there's no score to follow?

That's always the problem with music from the medieval and early renaissance. Sometimes there's no music, or if there is, it's very sketchy. Take the case of the castle decoration.

Really. In the process of studying some 16th century carvings on Stirling Castle, Scotland for restoration, scholars discovered an unusual pattern circling the medallions. They turned out to be musical notations. The three symbols indicated different notes. And (as you can hear on the BBC website), they work.

And that's how modern musicians recreate the music of the distant past. As Huw Williams of the BBC wrote,

So what we're actually hearing is a combination of sound musical scholarship and educated guess-work.

The music might not be quite the same as it was performed in the 1500's, but it still sounds pretty good to me.