May 1993

New Releases: May 1993

One of the greatest boons to Early Music has been the evolution of the compact disc. Robert Aubry Davis continues his monthly feature of some of the many new releases in the field.

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The Wheel of Fate and Fortune’s Revenge

No image was more enduring in the medieval mind than that of the great Wheel of Fortune, with Lady Fortune sitting in the middle, raising up Kings with her right hand and dashing them into the dust with her left. In a program from the 1992 Holland Festival for Early Music at Utrecht, the Sequentia Ensemble illustrates musically examples of Fortune's work in the 11th and 12th centuries.

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Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library Exhibition

In a new exhibition at the Library of Congress, musical scores and documents from the Vatican Library provide an opportunity to glimpse the lives and duties of church musicians during the Renaissance. Host Robert Aubry Davis and Early Music scholars provide commentary to go along with a live concert in honor of the exhibition.

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Sweet Zephyrs

In honor of May, a collection of dances, songs about the forest, songs of hunting, and (of course!) songs of love from England, France and Germany in the high Renaissance. In a live performance from the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Folger Consort celebrates the return of sweet breezes.

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Nobleman of Palermo

Sigismondo D'India was thought to be from the exotic land of Sicily, and while it is not so far away as India, his music was evocative, dramatic and full of vocal tricks. This week, Robert Aubry Davis will spend time with the great Early Music tenor Nigel Rogers, whose latest recording is dedicated entirely to Sigismondo.

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