ABC 476 4955
As the times of the 15th and 16th centuries had been an era of great discovery, like so the emergence of music drawn from this period, is a real discovery as well. Interest in early music performance practice has been passionately embraced throughout the world, with Australia firmly placed at the forefront of these discoveries.
Many musicians have travelled and studied widely to build their knowledge and skills to develop further interest in the music of this time.
La Compania formed in 1997 to perform such music of the Renaissance and Early Baroque. Directed by Danny Lucin, the ensemble brings together some of Australia’s leading specialists on period instruments, including cornetto, sackbuts, dulcian, shawm, viola da gamba, lute and a variety of percussion instruments.
The ensemble comprises Danny Lucin, Mitchell Crosee, Brock Imison, Julian Bain, Glenn Bardwell, Victoria Watts, Rosemary Hodgson, Denis Close and Christine Baker. In addition, Siobhan Stagg appears as the guest soprano soloist on this disc.
The music is a rich tapestry of social thought, religion (as seen with the Counter-Reformation as its backdrop), politics, war and everyday life, woven by a wide variety of instrumental and vocal music (some with simple syllabic treatments, and others, dance).
Whilst the composers (Fernandes, Machado, de Cristo, Guerrero, de Milan, and de Escobar) may be less familiar to many, all are worth exploring.
Some of the common compositional techniques to be noted in the music on this recording are the use of verse and chorus and ternary form structures, homophonic texture, changing metres from triple to duple, syncopation and hemiola, improvisation, ornamentation and dance elements. All these ideas are easily identifiable, and useful for teaching students (either in the studio or classroom).
The short pieces presented here (some of which have been taken directly from rare manuscripts) are delights to the ear, and are small tastes of a delectable and almost forgotten musical culture.
The scholarly work behind the performances, coupled with the impressive performances, and interesting tonal colours makes this discovery most worthwhile.