The Early Music Legend

All Music Guide - James Manheim To listen to the 1970s recordings of David Munrow and his Early Music Consort of London is to realize how pivotal they were in transforming early music from an academic specialty into a living performance tradition. The performances are based on thorough academic research, but they are varied, vital, and enthusiastic, meant for concert audiences rather than academic meetings. And the Early Music Consort of London roster is packed with future stars. This two-CD set offers the complete contents of what was originally a double Munrow LP, The Art of the Recorder , plus the first half the Middle Ages half of another double LP, Instruments of the Middle Ages and Renaissance . The Renaissance half is available as part of a different CD reissue, Music from the Court of Ferdinand and Isabella . Splitting up the Instruments album is a strange choice. Intended to accompany a book about the his...

April 14, 2010 by Norman Lebrecht Last September, there appeared on the market an unusual tribute to the music of the French medieval composer, Guillaume de Machaut. It was the work of Robert Sadin, a Grammy winning producer, and the artists included the Brazilian guitarist and songwriter Milton Nascimento and the jazz singer Madeleine Peyroux. A limelight project from Deutsche Grammophon, once the pre-eminent classical label, it came from the fertile brain of Universal’s president of classics and jazz, Chris Roberts. Here is Sadin on its conception: Our conversation turned to David Munrow, whose early death was a great loss to this world. Munrow had a tremendous vitality – he mastered an astonishing array of instruments and devoted himself to bringing the treasures of medieval and Renaissance music to the awareness of today’s listeners. His recordings have a vibrancy and a sense of adventure which no one who has heard them will ever forget. Chris raised th...