VA - Meditation Music: Meditative Music Across Ten Centuries (2016)

Smooth away physical or emotional distress with this arresting Meditation CD! Music is the language and the sound of the soul. It can convey from the inner-most-self a state of heart and mind, touching the soul and the very essence of being directly. The music on this Meditation CD transmits a deep and profound beauty that invites a state of meditation and contemplation, only then revealing its purest secrets. Beyond cultural, social or religious boundaries, this music communicates in the universal language of the heart, which does not need the mind nor the intellect to be understood and appreciated.

This is the only Meditation CD that is entirely built around early music, considered by many to be the “healing music” of our century. It contains pieces from the 10th to the 19th century, truly meditative music chronologically ordered so that, when listening to it, you can free your senses and concentrate your attention on the magical atmosphere that these pieces help to evoke and feel. The almost miraculous way in which in the first piece of our CD the Gregorian melody adapts to the text’s inflexions and nuances is a reflection of the tranquility and peace desired by monastic life. From the remote times of Gregorian tunes (10th century) up to the 19th century, represented here by a mesmerizing duet for two cellos by the German, almost forgotten composer, F.A. Kummer, this deeply beautiful music will help you to adjust your breath, focus your mind on the quite melting beauty of these repertoires and achieve the concentration needed for a fully satisfactory state of meditative relaxation.

The musical selection of our CD is absolutely ravishing: from anonymous fascinating medieval pieces to irresistible tunes by Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart, Purcell or Telemann, all of them performed by some of the world-wide early music stars that record for Cantus. This CD contains a number of tracks never previously released by Cantus, with music by Hildegard von Bingen, Francesco Maria Veracini, Jacques Duphly, Friedrich August Kummer, François Couperin or Antonio Vivaldi, to name but a few examples.

Our Meditation CD has been recorded entirely in naturally atmospheric venues such as churches, cathedrals, palaces and ancient castles, often at midnight for ambient sound conditions and in many occasions using only candlelight. No obstrusive recording systems have been used. In most cases a single source sound system based on a stereo microphone has been employed using no mixers at all. As a result, the music on this CD possesses an extraordinarily authentic quality that suits the persons who seeks a sophisticated musical experience. To heighten the experience, listen to the music at night when there are no foreign sounds disrupting your pleasure. Embark on a wholly satisfying journey into the world of meditation music: from celestial liturgical music to outer-wordly secular sounds.

Tracklist
01 Dominique Vellard - Graduel: Miserere mei Deus (10-11th c.)
02 Les Flamboyants - O frondens virga (12th c.)
03 Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Ave Maris Stella (12-13th c.)
04 La Reverdie - Fuwëless in the Frith (13th c.)
05 Anne-Marie Lablaude - Dum sigillum summi patris (12-13th c.)
06 Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Cele m'a tolu la vie - Lonc tens - Et sperabit / Ave deitatis - Cele m'a tolu - Lonc tens - Et sperabit (13th c.)
07 Pierre Hamon - Tels rit au main (14th c.)
08 La Reverdie - En ma forest (14th c.)
09 Guillemette Laurens - Ma bouche rit (15th c.)
10 Musica Ficta - Inclina, Domine, aurem tuam (16th c.)
11 Núria Rial - Magnificat: VIII. Deposuit potentes (16th c.)
12 Musica Antiqua - Paduana del Re (16th c.)
13 Géard Lesne - Troisième leçon: Jod. Manum suam (17th c.)
14 Sergio Ciomei - Ground in C Minor, ZD 221 (17th c.)
15 Fabrizio Cipriani - Violin Sonata No. 1 in D Major, Op. 2: I. Adagio (18th c.)
16 Gérard Lesne - Stabat Mater, RV 621: Eja Mater (18th c.)
17 Fabrizio Cipriani - Violin Sonata No. 10 in F Minor, Op. 2, RV 21: I. Preludio. Andante (18th c.)
18 Rossana Bertini - Langue, geme, HWV 188 (18th c.)
19 Lorenzo Cavasanti - Sonata for Recorder and Continuo in C Major, TWV 41:C5: II. Larghetto (18th c.)
20 Fabrizio Cipriani - Violin Sonata No. 7 in A Major, Op. 1: IV. Largo (18th c.)
21 Brigitte Tramier - Deux rondeaux en Do Majeur et Do Mineur (18th c.)
22 Fabrizio Cipriani - Violin Sonata No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 1, K. 304: II. Tempo di menuetto (18th c.)
23 Josep Maria Roger - Sonata No. 15 in D Minor (Andante allegretto) [18-19th c.]
24 Maurizio Naddeo - Allegretto melancolico No. 2, Op. 105 (19th c.)