OBSIDIAN NEWS ...
Gramophone Magazine votes Tomkins 'Editor's Choice and CD of the Month'
Click here for further information and to download extracts from the February 2008 issue.
Obsidian Records featured on Radio 3
Petroc Trelawny (BBC Radio 3's In Tune presenter) talks to David Skinner and Martin Souter about Obsidian Records. The interview was broadcast live on Friday, 15 February 2008.
In the Studio
Following on the success of their Tomkins CD 'These Distracted Times' the Choir of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, team up with the cornett and sackbut ensemble QuintEssential in a programme of music by Ludwig Senfl. Featured works will include the Missa Paschali, motets and songs accompanied by Andrew Lawrence-King on renaissance harp. The recording will be made in the beautiful city of Regensburg deep in Bavaria, when Senfl spent much of his career. The CD will be released in Autumn 2008.
OBSIDIAN is a volcanic substance which in early times was prized for its magical properties. Its black surface can be highly polished and thus reflect an image of its beholder. From the darkness comes a light, and ancient lore has it that the viewer can choose to see many things beyond a pure reflection.
Obsidian Records seeks to provide that illumination to the past and its music. The new label will initially release music from the period c.1300-1750. Music will be from major composers and sources including previously unrecorded repertoire, using new, unique scholarly editions. Clear titling and atmospheric programming aim for a ‘realistic’ listening experience by combining vocal and instrumental music in a natural recorded sound. Artists include some of the finest available, from Britain’s leading new vocal consort, Alamire, directed by David Skinner, to established groups such as the viol ensemble Fretwork, collegiate choirs at Oxford and Cambridge, and soloists including Andrew Lawrence-King and Lynda Sayce. Packaging and booklet notes will be an important contribution to bringing new light and vision to some very exciting music.
Recording proposals for our growing label may be submitted to the Artistic Director at proposals@classicalcommunications.com.
CD701 Josquin Desprez: Missa D'ung aultre amer, Motets & Chansons
ALAMIRE & ANDREW LAWRENCE-KING, harp, directed by David Skinner
Josquin Desprez is widely recognized as the greatest of the Renaissance master musicians. He set the standard for the various compositional techniques borrowed and utilized by most composers of his generation and beyond, and became an iconic figure whose art captivated musicians and scholars for centuries. This recording centres around some of Josquin’s earliest works, and, in particular, his fascination with the D’ung aultre amer rondeau composed by his teacher Johannes Ockeghem. Also included are some of his most popular motets and chansons performed here by a solo voice (Clare Wilkinson) with renaissance harp (Andrew Lawrence-King).
"Early Josquin from a new choir - a winning combination ... the recital is ingenious" -- The Gramophone (January, 2008)
CD702 Thomas Tomkins: These Distracted Times
FRETWORK, ALAMIRE & THE CHOIR OF SIDNEY SUSSEX COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, directed by David Skinner
The political intrigue of the early 17th century culminated with the execution of Charles I in 1649 and the beginning of the Commonwealth led by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell. Thomas Tomkins, the greatest composer of that age, wrote a pavan for ‘these distracted times’ shortly after the King’s execution. This CD provides a mixture of Tomkin’s church and chamber music that soothed troubled souls during these turbulent years. The recording was made in the chapel of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where Cromwell was a student and where his severed head remains.
GRAMOPHONE EDITOR'S CHOICE & CD OF THE MONTH (February, 2008)
"The performances glow, and so does one's spirit after hearing them ... Tomkins would almost certainly have been delighted."
CD703 Phiippe Verdelot: Madrigals for a Tudor King
ALAMIRE & LYNDA SAYCE, lute, directed by David Skinner
Philippe Verdelot was the most important composer of Italian madrigals in the early 16th century and recognized as the greatest innovator of the genre. A Frenchman, he occupied several important musical posts in Italy, including the Florentine posts of maestro di cappella at the Baptistry of S. Maria del Fiore and the great Duomo itself. In the mid 1520s, during his time in Florence, a set of part-books were assembled, probably under Verdelot's supervision, for the court of Henry VIII. Most, if not all, of the works were composed by Verdelot. This is the first recording of the complete madrigals in the collection, which stands not only as the most exceptional of diplomatic musical gifts but is also an important source for the history of the early madrigal.
"Alamire are on fine form ... consummate polish" -- The Gramophone (June, 2008)