Search - Giovanni Battista Buonamente, Biagio Marini, Tarquinio Merula :: Grand Tour: Music from 16th and 17th Century Italy, Spain and Germany

Very Good Treatment of 'Transitional' Music

B. Marold | Bethlehem, PA United States | 12/27/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"'Grand Tour' performed by His Majesty's Sagbutts and Coronets is a collection of sixteenth and seventeenth centuryh Italian, Spanish, and German brass choir music; however, the instrumentation is not limited to brass, as a harpsicord or chamber organ appear in eighteen out of twenty-two of the pieces.



What interests me most about these performnances is how they are representatives of music which bridged the period between more highly stylized and 'tinny' old music and the Baroque and Classical periods of Bach, Hayden, and Mozart.



I also find it interesting that to my ear, there is very little difference in sound from the pieces done in the three different countries. This suggests to me a far greater amount of cross-pollination of musical style and doctrine than you may think for the sixteenth century.



Another very interesting discovery is that the term 'coronet' referred to some instruments which are a whole lot different from those reaching the lips of Louie Armstrong or Bix Beiderbeck.



Of all the recordings done by this group, this may be the most enjoyable introduction to their 'terroir'.



Recommended."