Millennium of Music
Music List 03-11
Bo Holten and Nicolas Gombert
 
Danish conductor and composer Bo Holten and his Ars Nova ensemble were  greatly responsible for the rediscovery and re-evaluation of the great Franco-Flemish composer Nicolas Gombert (c.1495-c.1560).  

Gombert was born in a village west of Lille, and as a young man travelled to Spain to serve in the chapel of Emperor Charles V. The Emperor granted him benefices in Kortrijk and Bethune, but Gombert was condemned to the galleys of a trireme for having improper relations with a choirboy in his charge. He wrote a series of works he called "swan songs" of such beauty, the Emperor granted him a pardon and gave him a post in Tournai, where he died obscurely.
 
This is the third of our series celebrating the early music scene in Denmark.
 
from Ars Nova (Kontrapunkt CD 32008):
 
--Musae Iovis (Lament on the death of Josquin Des Prez).
--Lugebat David Absalon ("David mourned for Absalom, his son").
 
from Nicolas Gombert: Sacred Music (Kontrapunkt 32038).
 
--Magnificat primi toni.
--Ave Maria.
--Si ignoras te ("If you do not know, most beautiful of women,
        follow the tracks of the sheep...").