In Nomine by The Harpies ECL1502E

Product details :

Artists :The Harpies Odile Edouard (violins), Mickaël Cozien (bagpipes and Gaita) Freddy Eichelberger (organ, cithern and direction), Pierre Gallon (regal-spinettino and colascione) Guest Harpy : Matthieu Boutineau, régale-spinettino, souffleur

The Choir of the Huguenots : Claire Berget, Odile Edouard, Emmanuelle Huteau, Stéphane Breyer, Mickaël Cozien, Olivier Depois, Pierre Gallon

Program : In Nomine - J. Bull, Ricercar noni toni - C. Erbach, Io son ferito ahi lasso - G.-P. Palestrina & G.-B. Bovicelli, Vestiva i colli e le campagne intorno - G.-P. Palestrina, Suite de bransles - P. Attaingnant & C. Gervaise, Dances from Britain islands, Frioul an,d of the Kuruc era Kuruc...

Chorea
Slap & Kiss

Press round-up : 

"Varied program with music from the Renaissance in masterly performances." Remy Franck Pizzicato (article in German) 

"This is highly entertaining stuff, presented inventively and imaginatively, and played and sung with engaging panache and honesty." D. Jame Ross Early Music Review

"The organ is used in combination with a range of other instruments, including a cornemuse, cistre, colachon, gaita, violin, and another organ – a spinettino-régale copied from an 1587 Austrian original. It is an extraordinary sound world (...)." Andrew Benson-Wilson - Article

"Anyone who likes good music should enjoy this disc. If you are sceptical: just give it a try and you may be pleasantly surprised." Johan van Veen - MusicWeb International

Overview :

This record is a genuinely collective piece of work and came about as a result of a whole host of factors. In the beginning there was a place and an instrument, the latter belonging to the church of Saint-Savin in the Department of the Hautes-Pyrénées, along with its artistically-restored Renaissance organ. Then came the desire to work extensively on the theme of Heaven and Hell as a tribute to a whole European musical repertoire which we had explored or rediscovered. Last but not least, there was the curiosity and – let’s not mince our words – the courage shown by a record label, without which this album would never have been released, given that it is rather off the beaten track.

 

In Nomine takes us on a musical tour of Europe on which witchcraft can mean not just hell but also standing up to the religious dogma that was so prevalent and often even implacable in the 17th century, and heaven was not necessarily as sublime as appearances might have suggested.

 

The four members of Les Harpies are joined by a bellows operator whose job it was to supply the organ with air – something that is a genuine rarity nowadays. The result is an extremely lively wind, showing off the purity of the organ’s sounds because there is no turbulence in the air and the greater accuracy of the harmonics produced in this way also strengthens the instrument’s basic sound. This also restores a certain authenticity, if we remember that an old organ needs to be “served” by a number of people and not just whoever happens to be sitting at the keyboards… Finally, on the pieces with words to be sung, the ensemble is completed by the Chœur des Huguenots, made up of seven choir members.

 

The repertoire on this record combines pious, secular and popular pieces of music, taking us back to Renaissance Europe, from the British Isles to the edges of the Carpathians.