Cries of London

Hillier, Paul, Theatre of Voices

HMU 807214

Nakład wyprzedany, ostatnie 2 egzemplarze Five hundred years ago, life in the cities of Europe, which were characterized by large families and cramped living conditions, took place on the streets: today's television images of an Arab bazaar can perhaps best give an impression of the lively scenery that was offered to those who stepped out of the narrow streets into the marketplaces.

Some who have experienced the first decades after the Second World War will also remember the rag-and-bone men who made their call from the side of the road and picked up recyclable waste from the houses. The author of these lines still remembers well the "Knaken, Plünnen, Ol Iesen!" (bones, rags, old iron), which resounded from the bicycle path at regular intervals in his childhood and was one of the rare occasions when he still heard Low German in Bremen.

These shouts, which filled the squares and markets from the most diverse dealer throats, naturally followed each of his melody. At the beginning of the 17th century, market cries in musical settings had a flourishing economy, either as polyphonic chants or as songs with instrumental accompaniment. In keeping with the high level of English musical life at the time, these musical genre scenes followed the artful rules of polyphonic composition, but these complicated musical networks also always included real market cries, so that the Cries of London became a highly original collage of folk and artificial musical forms.

The composers who earned good money with such musical hits often enough belonged to England's musical elite, such as Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), who made it from a chorister at King's College in Cambridge to the ennobled musician of the private chambers of the Prince of Wales. Or Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623), organist of Winchester Cathedral, later leading church musician of Chichester Cathedral and successful and highly respected madrigal composer. In 1612 Weelkes set off for Rome, where he was able to study the latest fashion of the canzone with contrasting chords, lively rhythms and distinguished melodies. His cries show the influence of the Italian madrigal comedy and thus clearly show the European roots that underlie these compositions, which are entirely English in style.

Works:

• Orlando Gibbons: The Cries Of London · I & II
• William Cobbold: New Fashions
• Orlando Gibbons: Fantasia A 4 For The Great Dooble-Base
• Thomas Weelkes: The Cries Of London
• Richard Dering: Fantasia No. 1 In 6 Parts
• Richard Dering: The City Cries
• Orlando Gibbons: Go From My Window
Verse Pastorals
• Michael East: In The Merry Month Of May / Corydon Would Kiss Her Then
• Michael East: Sweet Muses / Aye Me / My Peace And My Pleasure
• Thomas Ravenscroft: The Three Ravens
• Richard Dering: The Country Cries

SACD x 1

Harmonia Mundi

14/03/2007

093046721466