The Art of David Munrow

[MickyD]

Presto have themselves issued three Decca CDs; I don't know if this means a Decca compilation would be less likely as a consequence though.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/search?search_query=%22David%20Munrow%22%20decca%2 0presto

And also this, originally DG Archiv:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...the-gothic-era

Thank you...yes, these were the recordings I had in mind. A bit cheeky at full price!

I have the Archiv disc, many thought it was one of his best. I seem to recall the original release was 3 LPs, some items must have been omitted.

[AuntDaisy]

Thank you...yes, these were the recordings I had in mind. A bit cheeky at full price!

I have the Archiv disc, many thought it was one of his best. I seem to recall the original release was 3 LPs, some items must have been omitted.

As far as I can see, the Archiv Gold boxset has all the "Music of the Gothic Era" LP tracks on 2 CDs.
Strangely, the Archiv Silver boxset has the single CD version. Both have the beautiful LP cover on the CD sleeve.

[MickyD]

More excellent research, Aunt Daisy! The Perotin items are very special for me and I think remain my preference even compared to the later fine performance from the Hilliards on ECM. Maybe it's Munrow's use of bells that give it such a wonderful ambiance, though whether that is authentic or not, I've no idea.

[smittims]

Well , it's often been said that Munrow was no purist. I remember his including a xylophone on one track. His main purpose was to get people listening to the music, and he succeeded triumphantly. .

[AuntDaisy]

Well , it's often been said that Munrow was no purist. I remember his including a xylophone on one track. His main purpose was to get people listening to the music, and he succeeded triumphantly. .

It sounds very jolly https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvmIrTCvO7E

As David Munrow says in episode 5 of his "Early Musical Intruments" - "Keyboard & Percussion":

There wasn't much in the way of tuned percussion during the Middle Ages. So, by at least as early as the 16th century, the xylophone was in use. And, as Hans Holbein shows in his Dance of Death, there was already an association with the macabre. But, whilst the xylophone was, admittedly, a bit of a rarity, sets of tuned bells were widely used...

Or, from his book "Instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance":

The xylophone
The first mention of the xylophone comes in Arnolt Schlick's treatise on organ building published in 1511 and the first illustration of it comes in Holbein's Totentanz (c.1525), pin-pointing an association with the macabre which the xylophone has never entirely shaken off.
Since it is of such ancient origin and widely known in primitive societies, some simple ancestor of the xylophone was very likely in use in medieval Europe, albeit undocumented.
The German name Stroh-fiedel (straw fiddle) certainly suggests that this was the case, as does the fact that by the sixteenth century the xylophone was well established. Agricola (1528) shows an instrument with twenty-five bars and Mersenne (1635), though his instruments are more restricted in range, thought that the xylophone was a useful instrument for acoustical experiment. "Further one can determine what the pitch is of all sorts of bodies by means of these xylophones ... so as to conclude some new things of their manifest or occult qualities."

David Corkhill (?) playing the xylophone.

[MickyD]

I remember that series, all shot on film in a historic house by Granada for ITV, strangely enough. It got shunted away at some ridiculously early time in the ITV schedules. It's a very important document of Munrow and his presentational style. Thankfully all episodes are now available on YouTube. A very young Christopher Hogwood can often be seen, too! I see at the end credits that the shooting date is 1976, the same year as Munrow's untimely death.

[Tapiola]

I echo others' welcome at this most overdue release. Munrow was my introduction to Renaissance and Medieval music; one of my my A Level music teachers was a huge fan and I have many happy memories of discovery at that time (clouded slightly by my teacher's judgemental sanctimony when I asked him, naively, why DM had died so prematurely). A huge and tragic loss to music.

A very attractive release although I have most of the contents from previous reissues. My favourites would be Art of the Netherlands (one of my favourite albums ever), Monteverdi's Contemporaries, The Art of Courtly Love and Music of the Gothic Era. I was not old enough to view his Pied Piper series at the time but have spent many productive and enjoyable hours catching up.

Only last week, my son reminded me of when we used to dance (when he a toddler) to the Saltarello (by that prolific composer Anon) which was the first track of Instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance).