Welcome to the GEMS online CD Store!
All CDs are $15, plus a shipping and handling fee of $5 per order.
Scroll down for recordings by Asteria, Parthenia, Pomerium and Trefoil
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| UN TRES DOULX REGARD $15.00
Asteria
Released in 2009
The chansons on Asteria's third album are all gathered from one extraordinary manuscript, the celebrated Oxford 213 manuscript currently housed at the Bodleian Library in England. Aside from being the largest collection of 15th century chansons by known composers like Dufay and Binchois, it contains a great number of anonymous works from the earliest period of the the 15th century. Asteria chose to focus on this exquisite body of little-known works for Un tres doulx regard, and many of these songs have never before been recorded.
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| SOYES LOYAL $15.00
Asteria
Released in 2006
Asteria's second collection of medieval French chansons is a fascinating look at the dual image of the "Lady" and the "Rose" in both secular and sacred music of the latter Middle Ages. In this exquisite repertoire the duo continues their exploration of the roots of courtly love and chivalry. Soyes Loyal lifts their interpretive skills to new heights with ravishing poetry and weaving melodies that inspire the senses. Featuring gorgeous music from the mid-fifteenth century by Dufay, Jacques Vide and others.
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| LE SOUVENIR DE VOUS ME TUE $15.00
Asteria
Released in 2004
The chansons on Asteria's debut album are gathered from compositions which were likely performed in the courts of the Dukes of Burgundy at the height of their reign and cultural influence during the mid to late 15th century. As you listen to the work of these masters, let the emotions conveyed in their ancient melodies carry you away, as they did the courtly audiences of the middle ages.
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| AS IT FELL ON A HOLIE EVE New Release!
Music for an Elizabethan Christmas $15.00
Parthenia with Julianne Baird, soprano
Release date August 31, 2010
Following
a long-treasured tradition of music for Christmas, the viols of
Parthenia join famed soprano Julianne Baird to present a sparkling array
of songs, dances and carols from Elizabethan England. Along with music
by Thomas Morley, Anthony Holborne, Thomas Ravenscroft, Dr. John Bull
and Tobias Hume, this disc features a wide variety of music by the
celebrated master composer of England's Golden Age, William Byrd.
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| LES AMOURS DE MAI $15.00
Love Songs in the Age of Ronsard
Parthenia with
Julianne Baird, soprano &
Robert Mealy, violin
Release date: December 8, 2009
French Renaissance songs and dances marked by grace, balance and a wonderful sense of lightness, featuring song settings of the poetry of Pierre de Ronsard by such composers as Claude le Jeune, Guillaume Costeley, Claude Goudimel, Eustache du Caurroy and others. Parthenia is joined by renowned soprano Julianne Baird and Renaissance violinist Robert Mealy.
Read the review in Fanfare Magazine!
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| A RELIQUARY FOR WILLIAM BLAKE $15.00
Music by American composer Will Ayton
Parthenia with
Alexandra Montano, mezzo-soprano
Release date: January 30, 2007
American composer Will Ayton's love of folk music, Elizabethan poetry, his Celtic heritage, his devotion to the art of polyphony, his love of old legends, and things philosophical and spiritual all shine through in this mesmerizing CD, featuring the song cycle, A Reliquary for William Blake, composed for Parthenia in 2005. Mezzo-soprano Alexandra Montano’s purity of tone, both as singer and as narrator in the prose passages, makes her an ideal interpreter.
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| WITHIN THE LABYRINTH $15.00
Parthenia
Release date: December 17, 2002
Defined by the ethereal quality which is at the soul of the viol consort sound, Within the Labyrinth explores an unusual collection of music that reflects the healing and spiritual aspects of the Labyrinth-walking experience, at times taking unexpected musical turns, from the simple canon of Ravenscroft’s Browning Madame to the mesmerizing variations of Hugh Ashton's Masque and Bevin's Browning, and the highly stylized dances of Scheidt and Farina.
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| TRUMPET AFTER DARK $15.00
The Randy Sandke Quartet, featuring Bill Charlap
with Parthenia, A Consort of Viols
Release date: April 1, 2005
Randy Sandke's use of a string section comprised of viols, as well as his always trenchant writing and commanding trumpet technique, breathes new life into the "jazz-with-strings" concept. Sandke's influences and interests encompass Beiderbecke, Armstrong, metatonal music and everything in between. This collection of ballads and other atmospheric pieces is certainly easy to listen to but is far from "easy listening."
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| ORLANDE DE LASSUS
$15.00
Motets & Magnificat
Pomerium
Alexander
Blachly, Director
Release date: November 2008
A
selection of five- and six-voice motets by the most prolific and
honored composer of the sixteenth century, including such famous works
as Tristis est anima mea, Timor et tremor, Cum essem parvulus, and Descendit sicut pluvia. The Magnificat super Ancor che col partire
rounds out this selection of colorful and dynamic works recorded in
Ascension Roman Catholic Church in New York. This is the first CD on
Pomerium's own new label, Old Hall Recordings.
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| OLD WORLD CHRISTMAS $15.00
Christmas Music of the Middle Ages & Renaissance
Pomerium
Alexander Blachly, Director
Release date: August 1997
Works by Praetorius, Erbach, Lassus, Josquin, Du Fay, Byrd, Horwood, Ockeghem, and Cipriano, recorded for Archiv Produktion. This CD, under the title Creator of the Stars, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1999. Includes Josquin's famous Preter rerum, Lassus's Resonet in laudibus, Horwood's Magnificat secundi toni from the Eton Choirbook, Ockeghem's Alma redemptoris mater, and Cipriano's seven-voice Quem vidistis pastores.
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| MUSICA VATICANA $15.00
Music from the Vatican Manuscripts (1503-1534)
Pomerium
Alexander Blachly, Director
Release date: March 1998
A selection of monumental Roman works from the Cappella Sistina music manuscripts in the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana dating from the time of popes Julius II, Leo X, and Clement VII (1503-1534). This CD, recorded for Pure Classics/Glissando, was produced to be sold at the exhibition titled "Hochrenaissance im Vatikan (1503-1534). Kunst und Kultur im Rom der Päpste I" shown at the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in Bonn, Germany, in the year 1998. It is Pomerium's most popular recording. Includes such classic's of Renaissance sacred music as Josquin's Benedicta es, celorum regina and Virgo salutiferi, Mouton's Tua est potentia, Carpentras's Lamentationes Jeremie, and Willaert's Enixa est puerpera.
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| CAROLUS MAXIMUS $15.00
Music in the Life of Charles V
Pomerium
Alexander Blachly, Director
A selection of motets and chansons associated with Emperor Charles V in the first half of the sixteenth century. This CD, recorded for Pure Classics/Glissando, was produced to be sold at the exhibition titled "Kaiser Karl V (1500-1558). Macht und Ohnmacht Europas" shown at the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in Bonn, German in the year 2000. Includes works by Lassus (Heroum soboles, Si qua tibi obtulerint), Gombert (Missa Sur tous regretz, Mille regres), Josquin (Mille regretz), Morales (Missa L'homme armé, Circumdederunt), Crecquillon (Carole, magnus erat), and Narváez (Mille regres).
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| MASTERS, MONSTERS & MAZES $15.00
Treading the Medieval Labyrinth
Trefoil
Released in 2005
At the heart of the labyrinth lies the Minotaur, and the decoding of medieval musical compositions often mimicked Theseus’ quest: indirect clues hiding a single positive solution. Along their journey, Trefoil encounters other fabulous beasts – the Unicorn, the Lion, the Python, and the treacherous Basilisk – and a cavalcade of heroes from ages past: Julius Caesar; valiant Galahad; the colorful Gaston Febus, Count of Foix; and the beloved crusader King Richard Coeur de Lion.
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| CHRISTO E NATO $15.00
Lauding the Nativity in Medieval Florence
Trefoil
Released in 2003
The ancient themes of the Christmas season – Advent, Nativity, and Epiphany – find eloquent voice in this recording of laude from 14th century Italy. Carols, mass movements, narrative poems, and songs of praise and prayer are arranged for lute, psaltery, voices, and medieval harps.
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