Vinum et Musica (2012)

What you get on this release by veteran countertenor Dominique Visse and the Capella de la Torre is something less accessible than what is suggested by the Vinum et Musica title but more accessible than the pedantic subtitle "Songs & dances from Nuremberg sources (15th & 16th century)." The collection of pieces here is a sort of tour of the city of Nuremberg, an important German city in Renaissance times but not one that was home to its own compositional school. Indeed, its influence seems to have been reflected instead in ... Read More

What you get on this release by veteran countertenor Dominique Visse and the Capella de la Torre is something less accessible than what is suggested by the Vinum et Musica title but more accessible than the pedantic subtitle "Songs & dances from Nuremberg sources (15th & 16th century)." The collection of pieces here is a sort of tour of the city of Nuremberg, an important German city in Renaissance times but not one that was home to its own compositional school. Indeed, its influence seems to have been reflected instead in the diverse musical tastes of its residents, who imported music from far and wide. Each of the four categories of the program --"The Emperor's Castle," "The Principal Churches," "The Feast," and "Humanism" -- contains not only German music but that from Italy, France, or the Low Countries. The last of these rests merely on the premise that the four works were part of a songbook compiled by a noted Nuremberg citizen with broadly humanist interests, and it doesn't quite wrap up the... Read Less