The Early Music Legend

David Munrow had planned to do the classic Play of Daniel..but it was not be. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation , search The Play of Daniel , or Ludus Danielis , is either of two medieval Latin liturgical dramas based on the biblical Book of Daniel , one of which is accompanied by monophonic music. Two medieval plays of Daniel survive. The first is one of the plays in the Fleury Playbook , a 13th-century manuscript containing ten liturgical dramas; the text is by Hilarius , and no music accompanies it. The play itself dates from c. 1140. The second is a 13th-century drama with monophonic music, written by students at the school of Beauvais Cathedral , located in northern France. Both plays were completed about 1227 to 1234. [1] A large portion of the text is poetic rather than strictly liturgical in origin; it closely follows the narrative of the biblical story of Daniel at the court of Belshazzar . [2] The latter play was r...

         David Munrow drew much of his inspiration from Michael Morrows Musica Reservata (for whom he worked for a time), and ofcourse Noah Greenberg. The following is a brief "review" note on the former.... Gig of a lifetime: Michael Nyman Laura Barnett Composer Michael Nyman on Musica Reservata, Festival Hall, early 1970s I was besotted with this group, and went to review them for The Spectator. They were performing motets by the early 17th century German composer Michael Praetorius, who is usually known for a bunch of poppy dance arrangements called Terpsichore. These, by contrast, were massive choral, orchestral works.. just thrilling. Musica Reservata were so different from other early musicians at the time. They were conducted by John Beckett, Samuel Beckett's cousin and run by a brilliant Irish self-trained musician called Michael Morrow. He was a rough bear of a man with a huge walrus moustache far from most cle...