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Queen Mary's Big Belly
Various composers

Gallicantus

Queen Mary's Big Belly

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212046425
Catnr: SIGCD 464
Release date: 03 February 2017
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Label
Signum Classics
UPC
0635212046425
Catalogue number
SIGCD 464
Release date
03 February 2017
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN
NL

About the album

Gallicantus performs music surrounding the fascinating yet tragic story of Queen Mary Tudor's 'phantom pregnancy'. On April 30th, 1555 the city of London celebrated the birth of a health male heir, but abruptly ceased the next day after the news was revealed to be nothing but rumor. There was to be no heir, with gossip and speculation surrounding the tale of Mary's pregnancy from that day onwards. The music performed here resonates with the circumstances of the mid 1550's, including items composed outside of Mary's reign: from the royal ceremonies in which Mary participated as queen, and music directly tied to the specific events of 1554-1555. This includes a newly-reconstructed Litany which was performed during Mary's assumed pregnancy. The viewpoint shifts from the streets of London and its suburbs, through the ceremonial grandeur of the royal palaces and their chapels, to the intimacy of the Privy Chamber itself.
Een uniek muzikaal en historisch verhaal verteld door een wereldberoemd ensemble
Gallicantus speelt muziek rond het fascinerende maar tragische verhaal van Queen Mary Tudors ‘schijnzwangerschap’. Op 30 april 1555 vierde Londen de geboorte van een gezonde mannelijke erfgenaam, maar de volgende dag werd de viering abrupt stopgezet nadat onthuld werd dat het nieuws niets meer dan een gerucht was. Er zou geen erfgenaam komen, en vanaf die dag zou het verhaal van Mary’s zwangerschap omringd worden door roddels en speculaties.

De muziek op het album geeft weerklank aan de omstandigheden rond het midden van de jaren 1550, waaronder ook werken die buiten Mary’s bewind gecomponeerd zijn. Het album gaat van de koninklijke ceremonies waaraan Mary als koningin deelnam, tot aan muziek die direct verbonden is met de gebeurtenissen van 1554-1555, met centraal een reconstructie van een litanie die tijdens Mary’s vermeende zwangerschap werd uitgevoerd. Het perspectief verschuift van de straten van Londen en zijn buitenwijken, door de ceremoniële pracht van de koninklijke paleizen en hun kapellen, naar de intimiteit van de Privy Chamber zelf.

Artist(s)

Gallicantus (vocals)

The membership of Gallicantus, comprising some of Britain’s nest consort singers, is bound byabeliefintherhetoricalpowerofgreat Renaissance music. Under the direction of Gabriel Crouch, the group creates performance projects which explore narratives and draw out unifying themes within apparently diverse repertoire. Literally meaning ‘rooster song’ or ‘cock crow’, Gallicantus was a name used in monastic antiquity for the of ce held just before dawn, which celebrated the renewal of life and offered a sense of gratitude and optimism for the coming day. Gallicantus has performed in many signi cant venues and festivals in the UK (Wigmore Hall, Spital elds Festival, York Early Music Festival), Germany, Austria, Poland, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Estonia and Norway. In the USA the group holds regular residencies at...
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The membership of Gallicantus, comprising some of Britain’s nest consort singers, is bound byabeliefintherhetoricalpowerofgreat Renaissance music. Under the direction of Gabriel Crouch, the group creates performance projects which explore narratives and draw out unifying themes within apparently diverse repertoire. Literally meaning ‘rooster song’ or ‘cock crow’, Gallicantus was a name used in monastic antiquity for the of ce held just before dawn, which celebrated the renewal of life and offered a sense of gratitude and optimism for the coming day.

Gallicantus has performed in many signi cant venues and festivals in the UK (Wigmore Hall, Spital elds Festival, York Early Music Festival), Germany, Austria, Poland, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Estonia and Norway. In the USA the group holds regular residencies at universities such as Yale and Princeton, giving concerts and interacting with student vocalists and composers, and has recently made its debut at Carnegie Hall.

Gallicantus regularly releases benchmark programmes on CD on the Signum label, which form the basis of their concert programmes. With “Hymns, Psalms and Lamentations”, dedicated to the music of Robert White, critics acclaimed an “impressive debut” (Observer) of “impassioned, exciting music” (The Times), whilst Gramophone Magazine declared: “What an outstanding disc... The opening of the Lamentations could stand as a kind of illuminated initial at the beginning of a gorgeous manuscript, so transparent and luminous is it.” Their second recording “Dialogues of Sorrow - Passions on the Death of Prince Henry (1612)”, was described as “one of the best choral releases of the year” by TheArtsDesk.com, possessing “singing of clarity, suppleness and poignancy” (Daily Telegraph); whilst International Record Review proclaimed “... this is a well sung, intelligently produced and exhaustively researched project, which deserves great success.”

The 2012 release “The Word Unspoken”, featuring music by William Byrd and Philippe de Monte was equally well received, with The Sunday Times saying “The intensity of the music is re ected in Gallicantus’s beautifully shaped performances”. It was named ‘Editor’s Choice’

in Gramophone Magazine, which noted that “the ensemble’s view is delivered with such intelligence and rhetorical persuasiveness that the cumulative weight of their Byrd, in particular, is well-nigh symphonic in effect.” The group’s fourth CD - the remarkable Lagrime di San Pietro by Lassus, has cemented

Gallicantus as one of Europe’s foremost early music ensembles, earning a second consecutive ‘Editor’s Choice’ selection from Gramophone, as well as nomination for a coveted Gramophone Award in 2014.


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Gabriel Crouch (conductor)

Composer(s)

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