TONUS PEREGRINUS

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Vinum et Musica – TONUS PEREGRINUS sings Byrd's Ne irascaris; Civitas sancti from the Dow Partbooks
"Wine and music make glad the heart..."

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NAXOS
Milestones of Western Music
SACRED MUSIC FROM NOTRE-DAME CATHEDRAL (8.557340)
From plainchant via simple 9th-century harmonies and the virtuosic duets of Master Léonin (known as organum), this hauntingly beautiful sequence charts the birth of polyphony up to the first music in four independent parts – composed by Master Pérotin and sung during the liturgy at the new Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. From the official laying of the cornerstone in 1163 to the completion of the famous Western façade almost a hundred years later, Notre-Dame was the fertile home of singers and composers whose extraordinary handiwork has come down to us in the magnus liber organi: the “Great Book of Organum”. From plainchant via simple 9th-century harmonies and the virtuosic duets of Master Léonin (known as organum), this hauntingly beautiful sequence charts the birth of polyphony up to the first music in four independent parts – composed by Master Pérotin and sung during the liturgy at the new Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. From the official laying of the cornerstone…
SWEET HARMONY – JOHN DUNSTAPLE (8.557341)
John Dunstaple (a.k.a. Dunstable) was not just the first truly great English composer, he was also musical godfather to the Renaissance. In the middle of the 15th Century poet Martin le Franc famously described how Dufay had adopted the English manner championed by Dunstaple – la contenance Angloise – and how, to Continental ears, this new style of music sounded so fresh, and above all, joyful. From the sweet-sounding triads of Quam pulchra es to the total harmonic control of Veni Sancte Spiritus – Veni Creator, this selection of Dunstaple’s sacred music must simply rank as some of the happiest music ever recorded. John Dunstaple (a.k.a. Dunstable) was not just the first truly great English composer, he was also musical godfather to the Renaissance. In the middle of the 15th Century poet Martin le Franc famously described how Dufay had adopted the English manner championed by Dunstaple – la contenance Angloise – and how, to Continental ears, this new style of music sounded…
MUSIC FROM THE ETON CHOIRBOOK (8.572840)
The Eton Choirbook is a giant 500 year-old manuscript from Eton College Chapel, and one of the greatest surviving glories of pre-Reformation England. This recording features the earliest polyphonic Passion by a named composer, two heartrending motets for five and six voices, two thrilling settings of the Magnificat, and an extraordinary canon in 13 parts, Jesus autem transiens. The ensemble TONUS PEREGRINUS has been widely acclaimed, not least for its “richly sung and very well recorded” programme of Orlando Gibbons, L’Estrange, and Pitts. (The Penguin Guide on 8.557681) The Eton Choirbook is a giant 500 year-old manuscript from Eton College Chapel, and one of the greatest surviving glories of pre-Reformation England. This recording features the earliest polyphonic Passion by a named composer, two heartrending motets for five and six voices, two thrilling settings of the Magnificat, and an extraordinary canon in 13 parts, Jesus autem transiens. The ensemble TONUS PEREGRINUS has…
THE MASS OF TOURNAI / ST LUKE PASSION (8.555861)
The earliest complete polyphonic settings of the Mass and the Passion that have come down to us are the 14th-century Mass of Tournai from what is now Belgium, and an English St Luke Passion from the early 15th-century ‘Windsor’ Manuscript. Both settings are anonymous and in three-voice polyphony, and the six movements of the Mass of Tournai reflect both the old-fashioned and the more up-to-date practices of ars antiqua and ars nova. The St Luke Passion displays characteristic English sweetness in its harmony, as well as unexpectedly dramatic responses to the events of the 24 hours from the Last Supper to Jesus’s short-lived entombment.
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