Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story
Rod the Mod finds his solo footing, headed for stardom, with the Faces in his wake.
6:00 AM GMT 22/06/2011
Features Disc of the day
Gabrieli Consort & Players
Praetorius: Lutheran Mass For Christmas Morning
(Deutsche Grammophon, 1994)
Put another layer on, you’re going to a Northern Renaissance knees-up.
For the Holiday fortnight, every Disc Of The Day will be a “winter warmer”, revelling in sonic/existential chill or offering fireside comfort.
Judging from the disturbing, ergot–spiked religious visions created by such artists as Matthias Grunewald, Lucas Cranach and Hans Baldung Grien, life as a justified Lutheran gig-goer during the Northern Renaissance was no barrel of laughs. Stuck in the deep cold woods of Northern Germany, subsisting on berries and roots and a healthy dose of religious terror, there were doubtless few moments of joyous uplift. In fact, this high Renaissance mass from Michael Praetorius is just about as loaded as it got. The most prolific German composer of the high Renaissance, Praetorius was born in 1571, the youngest son of a Lutheran pastor. Working in the courts of Wolfenbuttel and Dresden between 1600 and 1616, he composed the basic repertoire for Germany’s Lutheran churches. When first heard, this version of the Mass - recorded with almost the entire population of Roskilde crammed inside their terrifying 12th Century Gothic cathedral - might at first strike listeners as familiar… why yes, that’s the tune they’re singing as they torch Edward Woodward in The Wicker Man! By turns thrilling and terrifying, as the massed ranks of Zealand bash out these epic storm-tossed shanties to Christ, this is a CD that simultaneously conjures up the bleak, black cold of ancient European forests and blasts you into Christmas day with the uplifting force of the Law of God! After all, if Praetorius could warm your soul after a day like this, then you part-timers, sniffling through the credit crisis, may feel yourselves truly galvanized.
Andrew Male
Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 25/12/2008
Further Listening
St Petersburg Chamber Choir – Rachmaninov: Vespers (Phillips, 2003)
The Hilliard Ensemble – The Old Hall Manuscript: English Music 1410-1415 (Virgin Veritas, 2000)
La Venexiana – Gesualdo: Fifth Book Of Madrigals (Glossa, 2005)
Previous Disc of the day
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Earl Brutus - Larky
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12:04 PM GMT 08/06/2011
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Loudon Wainwright - T-Shirt
An overlooked small wonder from an unpredictable career.
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Landscape - From The Tea-rooms Of Mars… To The Hell-holes Of Uranus
Dry computer club Futurists, upon hitting implausible chart paydirt.
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Causa Sui - Summer Sessions Vol 1-3
Epic Danish jams, for when the neighbours get you down.
6:00 AM GMT 12/05/2011
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Hopefully something a bit more light hearted and fun tomorrow?
Posted by simon F at 4:00 PM GMT 25/12/2008 Report Abuse
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