8.572840

Music from THE ETON CHOIRBOOK
TONUS PEREGRINUS
Antony Pitts, director

Repertoire
Walter LAMBE Nesciens mater a 5
William, Monk of STRATFORD
Magnificat a 4
PLAINCHANT Nesciens mater
Richard DAVY St Matthew Passion
[27:11-56] a 4
John BROWNE Stabat mater a 6
Hugh KELLYK Magnificat a 5 (first recording)
Robert WYLKYNSON Jesus autem transiens / Credo in Deum canon a 13

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)

8.572876

THE GUERRA MANUSCRIPT, Volume 2
17th Century Secular Spanish Vocal Music
Juan Sancho, tenor • Ars Atlántica

Named after an eminent scribe at the court in Madrid, the Guerra Manuscript contains over one hundred secular songs from the second half of the seventeenth century. The anthology is a valuable repository of music from anonymous sources but also from Spain’s very finest Baroque composers, such as Juan Hidalgo and José Marín. These expressive songs, largely on poetic and mythological themes, are performed by some of the world’s leading interpreters of the genre, whose first volume in this series [8.570135] received great acclaim.

8.660314-15 • 2CDs

8.572921

Ermanno WOLF-FERRARI (1876-1948)
Idillio-concertino in A major, Op. 15*
Concertino in A flat major, Op. 34^†
Suite-concertino in F major, Op. 16^‡
Andrea Tenaglia, oboe *
William Moriconi, cor anglais ^†
Giuseppe Ciabocchi, bassoon ^‡
Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma
Francesco La Vecchia

Although Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari is known mainly for his operatic compositions (La vedova scaltra is available on Naxos CD 8.660225-26 and DVD 2.110234-35), he wrote a number of sublimely expressive and lyrical orchestral works, devoting the majority of his time in later life to composing instrumental music. The three delightfully melodic, rhythmically buoyant and, at times elegiac works featured on this recording represent his complete wind concerto output.

8.572814

Wilhelm Friedemann BACH (1710-1784)
Keyboard Works, Vol. 3
– Sonatas and Suite
Julia Brown, harpsichord

Repertoire
Sonata E flat major, F.5 / BR A 7
Sonata in B flat major, F.9 / BR A 16
Suite in G minor, F.24 / BR A 39
Sonata in C major, F.2 / BR A 3
Sonata in D major, F.4 / BR A 5

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach was renowned as a brilliant improviser and keyboard performer. His keyboard sonatas, filled with quirky contrasts and a more adventurously chromatic and exploratory style than that of his contemporaries, attest to his individualism and virtuoso technical skill. His only Suite reworks and expands his father, J.S. Bach’s models, turning conventional dance movements into character pieces. W.F. Bach’s enthralling and unexpected twists and turns create an expressive and unique musical language, performed by the ‘wonderful’ Julia Brown. (Fanfare on 8.570530, W.F. Bach Keyboard Works Vol. 2)