MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

Buy through MusicWeb
for £12 postage paid World-wide.

Musicweb Purchase button

Sound Samples and Downloads

Paris 1200: Pérotin and Léonin - Chant and Polyphony from 12th Century France
Breves dies hominis [2:44]
Virtutum thronus frangitur [2:31]
Pange melos lacrimosum [3:44]
Te sanctum dominum [8:36]
Ave Maria fons letitie [1:28]
Aver virgo virginum [2:29]
Olim sudor Herculis [7:55]
Condimentum nostre spei [5:36]
Sic mea fata [2:00]
Mundus vergens [2:42]
Mens fidem - Encontre - In odorem [5:39]
Gaude Maria virgo [9:13]
Veris ad imperia [1:31]
O curas hominum [5:12]
Procurans odium [2:04]
Diffusa est gratia [4:48]
Veste nuptiali [3:08]
Mors vite propitia [2:32]
Lionheart (Jeffrey Johnson, Lawrence Lipnik, Kurt-Owen Richards, John Olund, Richard Porterfield, Stephen Rosser)
rec. Leominster Priory, 18-22 August 1997. DDD
NIMBUS NI 5547 [73:54]

Experience Classicsonline


 
Lionheart are a kind of thinking (wo)man's The Priests, with the added asset of being able to sing beautifully. This was their second and last recording for Nimbus, first released in 1998 and again in 2003 with identical covers. This was before the group hit the big-time, relatively speaking, and moved on to the Koch International label, subsequently adding a number of 21st century works to their repertory. Their first CD was reviewed here. Nowadays Michael Wenger has replaced Stephen Rosser, but otherwise the line-up is unchanged.
 
Lionheart's programme here consists of organum, motets and conductus associated with the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris around 1200. Léonin and his successor Pérotin, the two musical giants of this time and place, may or may not be behind some of the music - their names in the album subtitle could be construed with some justification as a little misleading.
 
Though there are one or two relatively 'upbeat' moments, as with 'Veris ad imperia' and 'Mors vite propitia', the music itself is, not unexpectedly, serene and reflective, even and slow-paced - a CD to listen to for mental relaxation or spiritual or metaphysical rumination, in other words.
 
Lionheart's six male voices make a fine a cappella ensemble, with attentive articulation, clarity of tone, and above all a splendid team ethic - doubtless born of many years of practice, touring and recording together - providing an appealing vocal blend and blue-ribbon rhythmic awareness. Latin purists need not get excited, though: Lionheart's vowel lengths and consonant articulations are all determinedly Church Latin.
 
Someone had a bad day when 'Olim sudor Herculis' was recorded - here some of the solo singing is ropy enough to ring the changes - but on the whole, Lionheart, for all the cheesiness of some of their group photos, deserve their plaudits even in this early-days recording. Towards the end of the final track, 'Mors vite propitia', the ensemble quietly exit whilst still singing - a cute, inspired way to round off their impressive performance.
 
Audio quality is generally very good, though there are one or two minor distortions, sounding like tracing paper buzzing against a comb. The CD booklet is neat and informative, with a slightly pleonastic contextualising essay from Lionheart Jeffrey Johnson and better-written notes on the tracks incorporating an explanation of plainchant-related terminology by another Lionheart, Richard Porterfield. Full Latin texts are thoughtfully provided by Nimbus, with English translations by Porterfield, although an unfortunate side-effect of this generosity is a booklet that is almost too thick to fit under the plastic tabs of the CD case cover - it certainly does not slide in very freely.
 
Byzantion
Collected reviews and contact at reviews.gramma.co.uk
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.