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A thousand beautiful and graceful inventions

Subtitled 'The glorious age of medieval and renaissance canons', this is a program of late Middle Ages and Early Modern Era choral music. The university of Queensland Chamber Singers are directed by Graeme Morton.

The illustrated 20-page booklet accompanying this CD includes detailed program notes as well as complete texts.

Musicians have always delighted in music that demonstrates ingenuity, grace and skill. Listeners are all familiar with how melodies may be shared, exchanged or tossed around between voices and instruments, from the mighty fugues of Bach to the simple rounds such as Frère Jacques (Are you sleeping) that are so beloved of children and the adults around them.

A common approach running through many centuries of music is the canon – a composition that is based on voices starting one after the other with the same melody and managing to sing the same notes and rhythms but with each voice beginning at different times. Composers exploited the attractiveness and potential of canon in myriad ways: from experimenting with different time distances separating voice entries to manipulating how high or low the first voice’s melody can be in relation to the following voices. Some composers even went so far as to write two or three canons that could be performed at the same time as part of a single composition (the result is called a double or triple canon). All of these techniques have remained staples of a composer’s training even to the present day. Yet, the golden age of canonic composition was the late Middle Ages and Early Modern era. From the early fourteenth to early seventeenth centuries, musicians explored canon’s every permutation.

Moreover, they used canons as vehicles for many of the most expressive artistic creations in the entire history of music. Canons formed the bedrock not only of music created for use in church, but they were also used for setting texts of secular, and sometimes quite earthy orientation. The present recording offers a tour of the magnificent world of graceful canonic inventions, from anonymous works only recently rediscovered to masterpieces for large and small combinations of voices that rigorously or playfully apply the musician’s art to texts for prayer, relaxation,
and amusement.

Artists

The University of Queensland Chamber Singers

Graeme Morton


Track Listing

  1. Kyrie (Anonymous)
  2. Sanctus (Anonymous)
  3. Gloria Spiritus et alme Matteo da Perugia
  4. Gloria Ad modum tube Guillaume Du Fay
  5. Prenez sur moi Johannes Okeghem
  6. En venant de Lyon Jean Mouton
  7. Qui ne regrettroit Jean Mouton
  8. Adieu mes amours Jean Mouton
  9. Ave Maria, gratia plena Prioris
  10. Gloria Spiritus et alme congié prens Josquin Des Prez
  11. Christi Virgo dilectissima Adrian Willaert

    12. Gloria Spiritus et alme Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

  12. Sanctus, Pleni sunt coeli, Osanna, Benedictus, Osanna
  13. Agnus Dei

    14. Missa Pro vigiliis ac feriis in canone Paolo Agostini

  14. Kyrie
  15. Sanctus, Osanna, Benedictus, Osanna
  16. Angus Dei
  17. Sit nomen Domini

Performers

Where to buy

A thousand beautiful and graceful inventions is available as as CD. It can be purchased online through Buywell Music or the Australian Music Centre which both offer secure online ordering.

Move CDs can be ordered through music retailers across Australia including Readings.

Product details

List price
$25.00 AUD
Contributor
David Spearritt
Release date
January 2025
Copyright
© 2024 University of Queensland Chamber Singers
Phonogram
℗ 2024 Move Records
Category
Choral
Catalogue number
MCD 663
Alternate catalogue number
MCD663
Barcode
EAN 9314574066326