The Whole Music Experience

Joel Frederiksen & Ensemble Phoenix Munich Requiem for a Pink Moon An Elizabethan Tribute to Nick Drake Harmonia Mundi Curiosity reared its head when I received press information about the early music ensemble lead by Lute player Joel Frederiksen covering the folk songs of Nick Drake.   After researching the modern revival of early music and folk traditions from the 1960s and 1970s, I already knew about a fusion between early European and folk music, and in fact, famous folk songs, Greensleeves and Scarborough Fair hail from the renaissance.   However, Joel Frederiksen and Ensemble Phoenix Munich cross the paths of English folk musician Nick Drake (1970s) with the melancholic lute songs of the Elizabethan John Dowland on the folksy Requiem For A Pink Moon , titled after one of Drake’s classics. In case you are wondering about the overall effect, the songs take on a 1970s folk revival feel despite the musicians performing the songs on early music instruments...

Joel Frederiksen Ensemble Phoenix Munich Rose of Sharon (100 Years of American Music 1770-1870) Harmonia Mundi I often wonder what early American music would sound like, especially since I’ve done my share of listening to early European music.   I expected the fife and rat-a-tat snare drum which you hear on Joel Frederiksen’s The Rose of Sharon .   And of course you would expect renaissance polyphony and baroque influences to play a role which you can hear in the "Father of American Choral Music" section.   The musicians provided extensive liner notes which come in handy and they divided the selections into 6 sections including, "The Battle for Freedom" (which feature religious text) but are related to the American Revolutionary War, "The Father of American Choral Music", William Billings, "Shape Notes and Singing Schools," "Shaker Spirituals", "Music from the Civil War" and "Revival Meetings and Spiritu...