Renaissance Reborn

Renaissance Reborn was, first, the title of a lecture on performance practices given at the 2017 national conference of the American Choral Directors Association. Along with the subtitle "Breathing New Life into Renaissance Music," the lecture presented historically informed practices that dealt with the subjects of vocal and instrumental forces, sound and pitch, meter and tactus, tempo, phrasing, structure, music dicta and music recta, text underlay, ornamentation, and expression - all the practices supported by primary sources from the Renaissance era and all the music became like restored art works that revealed their original rich and bright colors. The lecture led to the writing of the book Performing Renaissance Music, with expanded material and musical examples, and to the recording of this album, which incorporates the historical practices. The repertoire is from the apex of the era (1538-1618); it includes common gestures of the time (motet, mass, and madrigal) and the most esteemed composers from across Europe.