On this week's episode of the Choral Mix, Kent Tritle takes you on a musical tour through the very Old World, with stops in medieval Hungary, Germany, Italy and more. We hear anonymous works that have echoed through the ages, as well as pioneering choral masterworks from Palestrina, Praetorious and Tallis.
Some of the best Christmas music comes from Europe in the medieval age and the Renaissance. Though you may never hear it piped into shopping malls starting right after Thanksgiving, the music from hundreds of years ago remains an open invitation to quiet the soul and still the mind.
Playlist
Anonymous:
Antiphon: Ave spes nostra (Hail, Mother of god, our Hope)
Song: Mi Atyánk Atya Isten (Our Father, God the Father)
Alleluia: Veni domine (Come O Lord)
Anonymous 4: Marsha Genensky; Johanna Rose; Susan Hellauer; Ruth Cunningham, Soprano
Harmonia Mundi 3957139
Pérotin: Beata Viscera
New York's Ensemble for Early Music
Frederick Renz, Conductor
Excathedra Records EC-9001
Traditional: Noël nouvelet (Arranged by Ian Humphries, Joseph Jennings and Matthew Oltman)
Matthew Oltman, Tenor
Chanticleer
Teldec 85555
Anonymous: Il Est Né
King’s Singers
Aabaa Records 2007
Hans Leo Hassler:In dulci jubilo
Penalosa Ensemble
Carus 83396
Michael Praetorius:Polyhymnia caduceatrix et panegyrica: Missa gantz Teudsch - Gloria
Gabrieli Consort and Players,
Paul McCreesh, Conductor
Archiv Produktion (DG) 439 250-2
Anonymous:Personent hodie
Theatre of Voices
Paul Hillier, Conductor
Harmonia Mundi 907079
Thomas Tallis: Missa Puer Natus Est Nobis: Sanctus
Tallis Scholars
Peter Phillips, Conductor
Gimell 34
Anonymous: Mervele Noght, Josep
NY Polyphony
AVIE Records 2141
Tomás Luis de Victoria:O Magnum Mysterium
The Boston Camerata
Joel Cohen, Conductor
Nonesuch Records 79134
Giovanni Palestrina: O Magnum Mysterium
The Sixteen
Harry Christophers, Conductor
Coro
Anonymous: Stella Nuova
Folger Consort
Robert Eisenstein, Rebec, Vielle, Viol, recorder; Christopher Kendall, Lute, Harp, Mandora; Scott Reiss, Recorders, Percussion, Psaltery, Reed pipe, Bells;
with Julianne Baird, Soprano; Michael Collver, Countertenor; Frederick Urrey, Tenor; William Sharp, Baritone; and Peggy Marie Haas, Organ
Bard Records 097761890247
(Recorded by the Folger Shakespeare Library; Great Hall of the Folger Shakespeare Library on December 22, 1984)