We gave a concert on Saturday and you won't BELIEVE what happened next!
Actually, you probably will. We got ready to take the music into the studio - Morales vol 5 here we come!
Meantime vol 3 is comes out on 1st May! You can pre-order here orcd.co/dpmoralesiii and listen to one of the tracks. 😁 🎉 😁
When travel disruption delays many singers and the conductor, one way to pass the time is to get the Gesualdo Six’s Guy James to lead a stretching workshop…
It's time to go from left to right!
Let's face it - the tv is rubbish and you're not really enjoying that novel.
What you need is some lovely 16th century music in your life, & we've got some for you.
Morales in Cambridge, conducted by Robert Hollingworth. You lucky people!
bit.ly/DPMorales5
T minus 2 days.
Concert on Saturday. Spanish Renaissance loveliness.
Have you got your ticket?
bit.ly/DPMorales5
It's that I Fagiolini guy again!
This time he's directing us in a gorgeous programme of music by Cristóbal de Morales - 'The Light of Spain in Music'
The concert is on this Saturday, Little St Mary's Church, Cambridge at 7:30pm.
Details and tickets from bit.ly/DPMorales5
See you there!
Double post today!
1. We have a gig on Saturday conducted by Robert Hollingworth - details at bit.ly/DPMorales5. Gorgeous stuff - niche, but nice. Do come!
2. New CD is released on 1st May. Do please consider pre-ordering using this link: orcd.co/dpmoralesiii. We'll love you forever. (Ts&Cs apply).
Cambridge is a bit overcast today, but we’re going to bring some Spanish sunshine to Pembroke College Chapel - rehearsing vol 5 of the Morales series with Robert Hollingworth. This one’s got the ‘Wow’ factor! Tickets at bit.ly/DPMorales5
Woo-hoo, it's (single) Release Day!
Click on the link and choose either 'Spotify' or 'Apple Music' to stream the track.
Then have a wallow in the Kyrie from the Missa L'homme arme for four voices.
The full album comes out on 1st May - our first CORO release!
Stand by your streamer!
The first single from our new album is released here -https://orcd.co/dpmoralesiii - tomorrow.
Can't wait. Hope you like it!
Excitement at DP HQ - vol 3 of our Morales series comes out on 1st May!
Here's a link to all the places where you can pre-order it. Cleverly, it will show the singles as they're released too. The first single - the Kyrie of the mass for 4 voices - comes out this Friday! Woo-hoo!
Happy Easter to all who celebrate!
Regina caeli is a jolly piece by Esquivel that we recorded in 2019 that's appropriate to the season.
(And we hope that you've all received just slightly too much chocolate.)
open.spotify.com/track/7LEI0S...
Gig in Cambridge in 2 weeks!
Sat 18th we're performing more gorgeous Morales including a mass that was one of his own favourites - Missa de Beata Virgine à4 - and you'll have the chance to pick up a copy of the L'homme armé masses CD that isn't officially released until next month!
bit.ly/DPMorales5
A classic track from a classic album - the Victoria Tenebrae Responsories recorded by Westminster Cath Ch in 1959.
This is a piece for Maundy Thursday evening, sung here in a very characterful way, eg 'Judassssss', but I feel for the tenors with all those top Gs.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd4U...
Had a fun & interesting time a week ago at the Cambridge Early Music commemoration of David Munrow. What a huge amount he packed into his short life! Amazing to hear that he likely would have gone on to conduct Mozart operas and later rep. Thanks, David!
It was otd in 2020 that we released our 3rd album, music by Juan Esquivel, a younger contemporary of Victoria. (Indeed, they shared a couple of music teachers).
Gramophone described it as "an extremely enjoyable and atmospheric recording."
Have a listen!
@ifagiolini.bsky.social
When postering, it's rather pleasing when you have the opportunity to budge up against new record-label colleagues!
Gig 18th April, tickets from bit.ly/DPMorales5
Saturday was International Early Music Day. What more appropriate way to celebrate it than by doing something familiar to so many in the early music world - traipsing around town putting up posters for an upcoming concert.
Feel the love! Feel the joy!
Gig 18th April. Tickets from bit.ly/DPMorales5
One week from today (Thurs 26th) our pals I Fagiolini will be performing Victoria’s sublime eight-voice motets alongside his darkly-hued ‘Tenebrae’ and other rare jewels at King's Place just by King's Cross station.
Not one to miss!
In one month (and a day) we'll be performing the next instalment of our magnum opus, the Morales Project. The inimitable Robert Hollingworth will direct us in Missa de Beata Virgine, Missa Tristezas me matan and the Magnificat quarti toni.
Details below. See you there!
bit.ly/DPMorales5
Le Morales nouveau est arrivé!
Morales CD3 - the L'homme armé Masses - Robert Hollingworth.
Our first album on CORO Records, out on general release 1st May.
There now follows the obligatory unboxing sequence.
Otd 1526 Charles V married Isabella of Portugal at the Alcazar of Seville. Morales was almost certainly in Seville at the time, would have been present at the occasion, and would likely have met Gombert who was in Charles's service. What would the great composer's have talked about? The catering?
Our next concert is in six weeks' time (Sat 18th April) - an instalment in our series of concerts featuring the beautiful and stirring masses of Cristóbal de Morales, one of the 16th century's more heavily-bearded composers. Robert Hollingworth directs, so fun is assured.
bit.ly/DPMorales5
It was otd 3 years ago that we released Vol. 1 of our Morales series (known as 'CD1') on an unsuspecting public. Gramophone was impressed, and thought that "the future of this bold project is in the best possible hands".
It's now available for a snip on the DP website.
Top geezer Jeremy Summerly has directed us a few times, the last occasion being a Victoria Requiem in 2022. He founded Oxford Camerata in 1984, and conducted of the Schola Cantorum of Oxford 1990-96. A conductor of over 40 recordings, he is a frequent reviewer on BBC Radio 3’s Record Review.
Happy Birthday, Charles V, born 1500! 👑 🎂 🥂
Morales never worked for the Emperor despite angling for a job by composing a mass setting on Charles' favourite tune (Mille regretz) & portraying him in the woodcut of the start of the Kyrie when the Missa L'homme armé à4 was printed.
Was he too subtle?
Otd in 1603, Sebastián de Vivanco took part in the competition for the position of Prof of Music at Salamanca University. Frankly if he'd just shown them the Kyrie of his Missa Assumpsit Jesus he could have saved the judges and the other candidates a lot of time.
In the church there are four Marian antiphons, each one appropriate to a different time of the year. Right now the appropriate antiphon is Ave Regina caelorum (Hail, Queen of Heaven). Here's Esquivel's upbeat setting, a non-stop cavalcade of imitative points.
If there was 1 recording that really opened my ears to the historical performance of Spanish polyphony it was Savall's 1992 Morales Requiem, using an all-male ensemble (correct) supported by a viol consort (wrong, but gorgeous). A bittersweet moment when our recording was compared to it favourably!
The online box office for our next concert (Sat 18th April) opens today. It's the next instalment of our Morales concert series, and features the Missa de Beata Virgine a4, Missa Tristezas me matan and the Magnificat quarti toni, conducted by Robert Hollingworth. Bring it on!
bit.ly/DPMorales5
