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MP3 Mignarda - Duo Seraphim: Lute Songs & Solos for Advent & Christmastide
19 MP3 Songs in this album (51:54) !
Related styles: CLASSICAL: Early Music, FOLK: Traditional Folk
Details:
The Christmas season holds a special place in our hearts. It is a time of wonder and rejoicing, of stillness and reflection on the most miraculous of births. For centuries, the image of angels proclaiming the birth of Christ with voice and instruments has been etched into our
consciousness, and this was the basis for our selection of music for this recording.
Our theme is unapologetically sacred, even Marian. On the surface, many of the lute solos appear to have no particular association with Christmas but they were carefully selected to set or prolong the mood of the songs. Indeed, the term ''carol'' originally described a vocalized music for dance that was eventually embraced by the Church and adapted to fit sacred texts and purposes. It is in this spirit that we include the ''Piva'', a traditional shepherd''s dance.
While most of the lute solos on this recording are from historical sources, the songs are without exception our own arrangements. Where the settings are from part-music, we follow the historical practice of adapting the lower voices for the lute. Where a song either lacked a suitable accompaniment or needed stylistic reconstruction, we used our imagination.
We dedicate this recording to our many friends and supporters, and hope that it heightens the spirit of the season.
FROM https://www.tradebit.com:
...As a jaded and sated holiday listener, I am drawn to anything lacking in kitsch, and there is nothing I''ve heard this season further from the manufactured art of American Christmas than Duo Seraphim. Surely, this is listening to holiday music without listening to "holiday music".
There are a lot of ways to get at the holiday spirit; Duo Seraphim has chosen the road less traveled, putting together a unique and substantial collection of latinesque works, adorned only with voice and lute.
--Richard Banks
(Reviewed in 2008)
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Mignarda - Donna Stewart and Ron Andrico - perform historical music that transcends history. One of the few professional lutesong duos in the United States, their unique and immediate sound blends respect for authenticity with solid musicianship and a flair for improvisation. Their fresh and engaging approach imparts the immediacy of folk music to renaissance music.
The duo''s CDs are winning critical acclaim. The Lute Society (UK) has called Rota Fortuna "essential listening". Both Divine Amarillis, their recording of French music from the early 17th century, and My Lord of Oxenford''s Maske, their third release, have been selected as Choice CDs by Cleveland, Ohio''s mainstream classical radio station WCLV. Reviewers have described their music as "radiant", "bewitching". and "laden with elegance".
Ron Andrico is a lute specialist with publication of several important music editions and scholarly articles to his credit. Mezzo soprano Donna Stewart has a long background in research and interpretation of Gregorian chant and the renaissance choral repertory. Together, the duo specialize in performing music that resides in the grey zone between folk and art music, with interpretations that follow the renaissance ideal of ''moving the passions'' of the listener.
The couple met in Cleveland, Ohio while singing Gregorian chant and renaissance polyphony in a five-voice choir for a weekly Latin Mass. They have recently relocated to New York after an idyllic year living in a log cabin off the grid in the Siskiyou Mountains, where they produced their own electricity, cut their own firewood, and enjoyed the welcome opportunity to refine their music with only the songs of birds to compete with the soft sound of the lute. They now live in a handmade house in the woods in West Danby, New York, just south of Ithaca.
The Mignarda duo is unique in that their musical background mirrors that of the typical musician of the Renaissance: They bring the music to life because they live the music. Capturing the nuance and intricacy of early music with warmth and flair, Mignarda’s performances remind 21st century audiences that at one time this WAS pop music.
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