Nicholas Ludford News
English composer
- Kingdom of England
- composer, cantor, sacristan, organist
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2024-03-29
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2019-03-27 17:21:00
Royal Festival Hall Brahms: Schicksalslied, op.54 Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor, op.54 Mozart, Mass in C minor, KV 427/417a Nico de Villiers (piano) Elin Manahan Thomas, Helen Meyerhoff (sopranos) Peter Davoren (tenor) Philip Tebb (bass) Hackney Singers Lewisham Choral Society London Mozart Players Dan Ludford-Thomas (conductor) A strange concert, this, in that, although chorally conceived, it proved strongest in the performance of Schumann’s Piano Concerto: not so much a comment on the choral singing as on the conducting of Dan Ludford-Thomas. That might seem odd, given that he proved himself very much a choral rather than an orchestral conductor, but the concerto came off best precisely because control of its direction was for the most part in the more than capable hands of pianist, Nico de Villiers. There was no doubt whatsoever that he was the real thing, offering […]
2018-03-18 07:30:03
The choir of Westminster Abbey sings Nicholas Ludford, Fretwork soar with John Jenkins. Plus music surrounding a strange royal non-event • Pleasure might be a first priority when listening to music, but it’s also a direct route into history. This is especially true of English Tudor and Jacobean music, which gives a sharp parallel insight into religion and politics of the time through vocal polyphony. The little-known Catholic composer Nicholas Ludford (c1485-c1557) – associated with Westminster Abbey and nearby churches, as singer, organist, worshipper – wrote only Latin works, many devoted to the growing cult in England of the Virgin Mary. Conductor/organist James O’Donnell and the Choir of Westminster Abbey, all male voices, show the contrapuntal richness of this music in their new album,
2016-06-12 09:00:16
Choir of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge/Webber, Magnus Williamson (organ) (Delphian)Hidden beneath the gothic revival Houses of Parliament is the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, much restored, the only remains of the medieval collegiate chapel of St Stephen, a lost royal foundation. The resourceful Geoffrey Webber has pieced together a sequence of music from its final years under Henry VIII, based around the music of Nicholas Ludford’s Lady Mass cycle. His Gonville & Caius choir is less suavely balanced than some, but sounds invigoratingly individual, especially in Cornysh’s riveting Magnificat and Sheppard’s Sancte Dei pretiose. Magnus Williamson’s improvised chamber organ responses and interludes, based on surviving partbooks, add to the atmospheric archaeology of an extremely worthwhile compilation. Continue reading...
2015-08-24 23:39:43
Robert Jones: Missa Spes nostra (Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks, vol. 4) by Blue Heron The superb Boston-based choir Blue Heron have released Music from the Peterhouse Partbooks, vol. 4 , featuring works of Robert Jones, Nicholas Ludford, and Robert Hunt in reconstructions by Nick Sandon. Almost nothing is known about Jones (fl. 1520-35), yet his Missa Spes nostra is, as Scott Metcalfe writes in his notes, the "unique creation of a mature composer with a distinct individual voice." Flowing vocal lines are interspersed with tart, ambiguous harmonies; there is a canny use of musical space, a sense of height and depth to the unfolding structures. As on previous releases , the singing is both precise and fluid, immaculate and alive. In Robert Hunt's Stabat mater, another remarkable piece by an otherwise unknown composer, the choir swells to a darkly splendid climax at "Stabat natus sic contentus […]
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