Acantus

Acantus
Sacred "songs of the people" from medieval Italy ...
Acantus
Gimell 462 516-2
Gimell CDGIM 516

Contents:

    Anon.
  1. Adoramus te Christi (6 voices)
  2. Vergene madre pia (2 voices, 2 lutes)
  3. Quasi cedrus (2 voices, 6 voice chorus)
  4. Verzene benedeta (2 voices, lute)
  5. O Virgineta bella (2 voices, viella)
  6. Sicut pratum (2 voices, organistrum)
  7. Salve sancte pater (voice)
    Salve sponsa Dei (4 voices, organ)
  8. Salve Virgo rubens rosa (2 voices)
  9. Credo apostolorum (2 voices)
  10. Sanctus & Benedictus (2 voices)
  11. Qui nos fecit ex nichilo (4 voices)
  12. Gaude flore (3 voices, flute)
  13. Alleluia (6 voices, 2 flutes)
  14. De profundis (4 voices, 3 flutes)
  15. Cum autem verissem (2 voices, percussion)
  16. O crux fructus (4 voices, bagpipes, tambourine)
  17. Adoremus te Domine (6 voices)

Playing time: 57' 40"

Performers:
Acantus [Marco Ferrari (voice, flute, organistrum, bagpipes), Alessandra Fiori (voice), Gloria Moretti (voice), Stefano Pilati (voice), Guido Sodo (voice, lute), Fabio Tricomi (voice, lute, viella, flute, organistrum, tambourine)] & Miranda Aureli (organ), Roberta Binotti (chorus), Dina Cucchiaro (chorus), Frida Forlani (voice, chorus), Alida Oliva (flute), Cinzia Romeo (chorus), Tomomi Takamatsu (chorus), Silvia Testoni (voice, chorus)

Recording site and date:
Eremo di Ronzano, Bologna, Italy [08/1997]

Reviewed in:
Diapason (#-p.):
Gramophone (Vol./#-p.): 76/912-86 (march 1999)
Fanfare (Vol./#-p.): 23/1-393 (september/october 1999); 24/6-265 (july/august 2001)
Goldberg (#-p.) 8-61 (fall 1999)

Comments:
Information from owned CD. This CD was choosen one of the best Gramophone 10 CDs for their March 1999 issue. This is an example of semi-popular sacred music known to scholars as cantus planus binatim or "primitive polyphony", polifonia simplice (including the laude genre). Although rather less enthusiastic than the Gramophone reviewer (David Fallows), I highly recommend this CD for those interested in Italian medieval polyphony or ethnomusicology of northern Italy.

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Pierre-F. Roberge