10th to 16th-century secular & liturgical music for feast days
Harmonia Mundi USA (HMU 907418)
• See the Early Music FAQ for additional information.
Medieval Christmas celebrations encompassed several feasts, including Circumcision & Epiphany. The Orlando Consort offers an unusual collection of carols ranging from devotional to boisterous, drawn from a 500-year span of secular and liturgical music from England, France and the Low Countries.
"As we've come to expect, the singing is first-rate--vibrant, impeccably tuned, and with a strong rhythmic vitality, supported by ideal sound. And although it will be the rare listener who recognizes any of these works, that actually is a good thing: what can be wrong with stretching our knowledge and experience a little bit, especially when it comes to a tradition so comfortable and familiar as Christmas?"
—David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com
