April 19, 2024

 

“Nymphs of the Wood” after a poem by Johannes Molinet. La Deploration de Jehan Ockegham Lament for Johannes Ockeghem The Hilliard Ensemble Josquin Deprez 15th century composer of madrigals and chansons

In 1978 commercial digital recording was only a couple of years old and was a very big deal in audio circles. I was working in a recording studio at the time and remember visiting the Audio Engineering Society Convention in New York and lusting after digital recording equipment I knew I would never be able to afford to buy. In 1978, Frederick Fennell and the Cleveland Symphonic Winds gathered in Severence Hall in Cleveland along with the gurus of the SoundStream Digital recording system, to record some compositions written or arranged for concert band. Early 20th century British Composer Gustave Holst had been an experienced trombone player, and so when he came to write his First Suite for Military Band in 1909, I guess he had an idea what it was he was up to. Here is Holst’s First Suite for Military Band, with Frederick Fennell and the Cleveland Symphonic Winds.

Bela Bartok‘s 1943 Concerto for Orchestra was first performed by Serge Koussevitsky in Boston. In 1972, Pierre Boulez and the New York Philharmonic recorded a quadraphonic LP of the concerto in the Grand Ballroom of the Manhatten Center in New York.

another song sung by the Hilliard Ensemble