The Whole Music Experience

About Provence and Provencal Music:   Southeastern France or Provence is a former Roman province, located on the Mediterranean Sea and adjacent to the Italian border.  Provence is bordered by the Alps and Italy to the east, the Rhone River to the west and the Mediterranean Sea provides the southern border.  The principality of Monaco, Nice, Marseilles, Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, Arles are all important Provençal cities.  Occitan is the language historically spoken in Provence and the Occitan regions of France, although the language has been losing its prominence.  The language is also spoken in parts of Spain, Italy (Piedmont), Germany and even the U.S (Idaho and Oregon).  The famed medieval troubadours penned their poetry and sung their verses in Occitan, which is a Latin Romance language. The troubadours draw comparisons to the West African griot or the Irish bards.  They not only sung love songs, they also traveled on trade routes bring...

Anonymous 4 Four Centuries of Chant Harmonia Mundi The laws of synchronicity work efficiently in my life. Two weeks ago, I pulled out Anonymous 4’s Portrait because I was craving ethereal polyphonic chants. Then I received an e-mail release notice from Harmonia Mundi announcing a new Anonymous 4 recording. Four Centuries of Chant, though is a compilation archives monody or plainsong chants that appeared on previous albums. While this quartet is mostly known for its vocal polyphony, the 20 plainsong chants (which includes work by Hildegard von Bingen, Tavener, along with medieval, renaissance chants and Hungarian Christmas music), deserve attention. These chants were culled from An English Ladymass , The Lily & The Lamb , Miracles of Sant’Iago , A Star in the East , Hildegard Von Bingen—11,000 Virgins , A Lammas Ladymass, The Legend of Nicholas , 1000: A Mass for the End of Time , Darkness into Light , and The Origins of Fire . Susan Hellauer cited in the liner notes, ...