I definitely like this cover picture!
Composer: Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, John Dowland, Pietro Antonio Locatelli, Johann Pachelbel, Giacomo Antonio Perti, Henry Purcell, Johann Heinrich Schmelzer, Raimbaut de Vaqueiras
Performer: Klingzeug Barockensemble
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: BIS
Catalogue: BIS2566
Release: 2021
Size: 0.98 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Lamento di Tristano (Arr. Klingzeug Barockensemble for Chamber Ensemble)
02. Schmelzer: Lamento sopra la morte di Ferdinand III
03. Vaqueiras: Planh
Biber: Balletti lamentabili á 4, C 59
04. I. Sonata. Alla breve
05. II. Allamanda
06. III. Sarabande
07. IV. Gavotte
08. V. Gigue
09. VI. Lamenti
10. Purcell: Dido’s Lament (Arr. for Chamber Ensemble)
11. Schmelzer: Sonata lamentevole
12. Dowland: Lachrimae Pavan (Arr. J. Schop for Violin & Basso continuo)
13. Perti: Fugue for 2 Voices
Locatelli: Sinfonia funebre in F Minor, DunL 2.2 “Lamento”
14. I. Lamento. Largo
15. II. Alla breve ma moderato
16. III. Grave
17. IV. Non presto
18. V. La Consolatione
19. Pachelbel: Alle Menschen müssen sterben, P. 377a (Arr. for Chamber Ensemble)
The phrase “memento mori” has its origins in classical antiquity, but the injunction to remember one’s own mortality has been a feature of different cultures and religions throughout the ages; just as death is universal, so is our need to adjust to this fact, and to consider our lives with it in mind. The arts are, and have been, an important means in helping us to do so, which is why the laments gathered on this album speak to us all.
The Austrian ensemble klingzeug has gathered examples from some 500 years – from the Planh (“plaint”) by Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, a Provençal troubadour of the early 13th century, to Locatelli’s Sinfonia funebre. Two of the most famous of all musical laments have also found their way onto the programme, albeit not in the form we normally hear them; transferred to a violin Dido’s Lament has become a song without words, while Dowland’s Lachrimae is heard in one of the many arrangements made of it, here by the German composer Johann Schop.