It's rare to see a recording of Renaissance polyphony hit the classical best-seller charts, but this one has, and even from a cursory listen, it's easy to see why. The music on the album is almost completely unknown, and the performances by the venerable Huelgas Ensemble are gorgeous. On top of this, the sound, recorded live at Belgium's Park Abbey, is wonderfully clear. For Renaissance fans, the big news here will be the Missa pro mortuis, or requiem mass, of composer Simone de Bonefont (born ca. 1500). This composer will ...
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It's rare to see a recording of Renaissance polyphony hit the classical best-seller charts, but this one has, and even from a cursory listen, it's easy to see why. The music on the album is almost completely unknown, and the performances by the venerable Huelgas Ensemble are gorgeous. On top of this, the sound, recorded live at Belgium's Park Abbey, is wonderfully clear. For Renaissance fans, the big news here will be the Missa pro mortuis, or requiem mass, of composer Simone de Bonefont (born ca. 1500). This composer will be unfamiliar even to serious Renaissance music lovers. He was from the Auvergne region, far out of the French mainstream, and only four of his compositions have survived. What's heard here suggests that it's worth looking around for more: the style of the mass is unique, with the top line often in chant-like long notes (although it is not a cantus firmus mass) while the other voices add more elaborate polyphony beneath. Certain turns of phrase, especially in the Offertorium, are...
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