We’re celebrating the Internet’s fascination with amusing manuscript illuminations with a “Listening to Art” episode devoted to weird medieval animals. From cats with uncomfortably human faces to jousting snails, we’ll explore music from the times, places, and pages of their creation. You'll hear illustrative works by Marc Antoine Charpentier, Jacob Obrecht, Antoine Busnoys, and more. On our featured release, violinist Cristina Prats Costa shares delights of the seventeenth-century Mediterranean.
PLAYLIST
Johannes Ockeghem: Les Chansons
Cut Circle, Jesse Rodin
Musique en Wallonie | MEW1995 (2020)
Johannes Ockeghem
D. 1 Tr. 8 D'ung aultre amer (4:33)
Segment A:
Musique pour Mazarin!
Le Jardin Secret
Coro | COR16060 (2008)
Marc Antoine Charpentier
Tr. 16 Sans frayeur dans ce bois, H. 467 (3:38)
Anonymous
Tr. 18 Avertissement des enfarinez a Mazarin sur ce qu'il doit craindre (2:02)
Oh Flanders Free
Capilla Flamenca
Naxos | 8.554516 (2000)
Thomas Fabri
Tr. 4 Ach Vlaendere vrie (2:49)
Scaramella
The Binchois Consort, Andrew Kirkman
Hyperion | 00028948762538 2024
Jacob Obrecht; Missa Scaramella (reconstructed by F. Fitch)
Tr. 6 Missa Scaramella: Gloria (2:52)
Renaissance am Rhein
Singer Pur
Oehms Classics | OC820 (2010)
Anonymous
Liederbuch des Arnt von Aich:
Tr. 14 Ein pauer gab seim son ein weib (2:55)
Lost Songs of a Rhineland Harper
Sequentia
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi | 196589903402 (2004; 2023)
Anonymous
Tr. 2 Caute, cane, cantor care (2:22)
Das Gansebuch
Schola Hungarica, László Dobszay, Janka Szendrei, Matthias Ank
Naxos | 8.557412 (2005)
Anonymous
Tr. 14 Mass for Saint Lawrence: Introitus (1:45)
Heinrich Finck
Tr. 15 Ich wird erlost (1:22)
Tr. 16 Bells of St. Lawrence (organ continues) (excerpt)
Midpoint Break Music Bed:
Chansons et Danceries
Piffaro
Deutsche Grammophon | 00028944710724 (1996)
Anonymous
Tr. 9 Bransle de cheveaux
Segment B:
Unicum
Ensemble Leones, Marc Lewon
Naxos | 8.574395 (2023)
Antoine Busnois
Tr. 17 Est il mercy de quoy l'on sceust finer (1:49)
Colours in the Dark
Ensemble Leones, Marc Lewon
Christophorus | CHR77368 (2013)
Walter Frye
Tr. 18 Tout a par moy (1:19)
Harmonice Musices Odhecaton
Fretwork
Harmonia Mundi | HMG507291DI (2008)
Hayne von Ghizeghem
Tr. 29 De tous biens plaine (3:16)
An Old Hall Ladymass
Trio Mediaeval, Catalina Vicens
2L | 2L175SABD (2023)
Anonymous
Tr. 1 Kyrie [Sarum Chant] (4:52)
Featured release:
Il Spirtillo Mediterraneo
Cristina Prats Costa
Pentatone PTC5187582 (2026)
Andrea Falconieri
Tr. 1 Il spirtillo brando (1:01)
Gaspar Sanz
Tr. 12 Españoleta, arr. Prats Costa (6:32)
Antonio Vivaldi
Tr. 20 Violin Concerto in D Major RV 208 “Grosso Mogul,” Recitativo. Grave (2:25)
Theme Music Bed: Ensemble Alcatraz, Danse Royale, Elektra Nonesuch 79240-2 [ASIN: B000005J0B], T.12: La Prime Estampie Royal