Blue Heron & Scott Metcalfe - Johannes Ockeghem: Complete Songs, Vol. 2 (2024) [Official Digital Download]

Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1420-1497) was one of the most celebrated musicians of the fifteenth century and one of the greatest composers of all time. He was every bit the equal of J.S. Bach in contrapuntal technique and profound expressivity, and like Bach able to combine the most rigorous intellectual structure with a beguiling sensuality. His two dozen songs set French lyric poetry in the courtly forms of his era—rondeau, virelai, and ballade—to exquisitely crafted polyphony in which all voices are granted equally beautiful and compelling melodies.

This album is the companion to Blue Heron’s 2019 release, Johannes Ockeghem: Complete Songs, Volume 1, which was named to the Bestenliste of the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik and acclaimed in Gramophone for “performances of absolute clarity, beautifully in tune, beautifully balanced and beautifully recorded”; Early Music enthused that “the Boston-based ensemble is at its finest—a summit quite sublime.… The group’s extraordinary rapport with the music is evident everywhere in the recording; each melodic line is not only clear and precise but also imbued with obvious affection.”

Besides twelve of Ockeghem’s songs, the disc includes two related works (Gilles Binchois’s Pour prison, quoted by Ockeghem in his song La despourveue, and Johannes Cornago’s Qu’es mi vida, arranged by Ockeghem) and an anoymous instrumental arrangement of Ockeghem’s Je n’ay dueil. The booklet contains complete texts and translations, and notes by music historian Sean Gallagher and Blue Heron’s artistic director, Scott Metcalfe.

Blue Heron:
Cody Bowers, cantus
Kim Leeds, cantus
Sophie Michaux, cantus
Reginald Mobley, cantus
Margot Rood, cantus
Jason McStoots, tenor
Aaron Sheehan, tenor
Sumner Thompson, tenor
Paul Guttry, bassus
Steven Hrycelak, bassus
David McFerrin, bassus
Anna Danilevskaia, vihuela de arco
Laura Jeppesen, fiddle
Debra Nagy, douçaine
Dark Horse Consort:
Alexandra Opsahl, cornetto
Greg Ingles, trombone
Erik Schmalz, trombone
Mack Ramsey, trombone
Scott Metcalfe, harp & fiddle, artistic director

Tracklist:
01. Ockeghem- Prenez sur moi
02. Ockeghem- Tant fuz gentement resjouy
03. Ockeghem- Ung aultre l’a
04. Ockeghem- Baisiés moy
05. Binchois- Pour prison
06. Ockeghem- La despourveue
07. Ockeghem- L’autre d’antan
08. Ockeghem- Ma bouche rit
09. Ockeghem- Presque transi
10. Ockeghem- Les desloyaulx
11. Ockeghem- Je n’ay dueil
12. Ockeghem- Je n’ay dueil
13. Ockeghem- Il ne m’en chault
14. Cornago- Qu’es mi vida preguntays
15. Ockeghem- Qu’es mi vida preguntays


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