Album info

Album-Release:
2012

HRA-Release:
28.11.2019

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  • Giulio Caccini (1551 - 1618):
  • 1Ave Maria05:18
  • Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828):
  • 2Ave Maria04:03
  • William Byrd (1543 - 1623):
  • 3Ave Verum04:05
  • Josquin des Prez (1450 - 1521):
  • 4Ave Maria05:51
  • Hildegard Von Bingen (1098 - 1179):
  • 5Ave, Generosa05:28
  • Claudio Monteverdi (1567 - 1643):
  • 6Magnificat13:21
  • Jacques Arcadelt (1507 - 1568):
  • 7Ave Maria02:29
  • Anton Bruckner (1824 - 1896):
  • 8Ave Maria03:41
  • Arvo Pärt (b. 1935):
  • 9Magnificat07:23
  • Charles Gounod (1818 - 1893):
  • 10Ave Maria03:05
  • Total Runtime54:44

Info for Ave Maria



Daniel Taylor is one of the world’s most sought after countertenors in the world and appears on over 100 recordings. Having made his debut at Glyndebourne, he followed it by participating in Jonathan Miller’s production of Handel’s Rodelinda.

In this latest release from Canadian label Analekta, Daniel performs a disc of ‘Ave Maria’s’ written by Caccini, Schubert, Byrd, von Bingen, Monteverdi and others, so provides a definitive disc of this repertoire performed by a world class singer.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus… Every day, all around the world, in places of worship or in the privacy of the home, in various languages and dialects, millions of people repeat this salutation. Some wind a rosary through their fingers as they repeat it; others are lulled by the sound of their own voice, the rhythm of the verse, the inspiration of the words. Appeasement, strength, juxtaposition of biblical text and Christian prayer, it is not surprising that the Hail Mary, or Ave Maria, was integrated into religious services as early as the 5th century. Two centuries later, the “Angelic Salutation” to the Virgin Mary during the Annunciation (Luke 1:28), to which is appended that of Elisabeth during the Visitation, would become a preferred form of personal prayer. While initially, prelates preferred their flocks to focus more on their Credos and Pater nosters, the Ave Maria would become part of children’s religious education starting with the Council of Béziers in 1246. Its definitive form was promulgated by Pope Pius V in 1568.

The Ave Maria appeared in the Gregorian Antiphonary and its melody often formed the reciting tone in Ars antique motets and the unifying theme in 16th century masses. However, composers more frequently treated it as an element of the liturgy, as an antiphon or the offertory. The Ave Maria of Josquin des Prez is based on a sequence (chant sung after the alleluia during certain feasts) and develops one trope in particular. (This unofficial amplification of liturgical texts aimed to give them a more solemn character; one of the most well known is the Ave verum, which emerges from the Sanctus. This recording features a version by William Byrd.) The version falsely attributed to Jacques Arcadelt was in fact composed in the 19th century by Pierre-Louis Dietsch, chapel master at La Madeleine in Paris, who freely adapted the 16th-century composer’s three-voice madrigal “Nous voyons que les hommes.” Anton Bruckner revisited the Ave Maria three times during his career. The second, a seven-voice a capella version and the most widely sung today, was premiered in 1861, after his five years of formal study in Vienna, to commemorate the founding of the Liedertagel Frohsinn choir, which he conducted at the time.

The three most famous Ave Marias are undoubtedly those attributed to Schubert, Gounod, and Caccini. Franz Schubert’s version was originally a setting of “Ellen’s Third Song” in the German translation of Walter Scott’s epic poem The Lady of the Lake. It was only later that the Latin text replaced the German. When Charles Gounod improvised a countermelody to the first prelude of Bach’s Well-tempered Clavier, his father-in-law, Pierre Zimmermann, transcribed it. Here, too, the familiar Latin text only later replaced the original, Alphonse de Lamartine’s poem “Le Livre de la vie.” The Ave Maria attributed to Giulio Caccini was in fact composed by Vladimir Vavilov about 40 years ago (he first recorded it on the Melodiya label in 1970). After Vavilov’s death, organist Mark Shakhin sent the “newly discovered” work to other musicians to ensure its renown.

According to the Gospel of St. Luke, when the Angel informed Mary that she would give birth to the Saviour, her first words were in praise of God: Magnificat anima mea Dominum (My soul doth magnify the Lord). This song, or canticle, transposed into the liturgy of the Vespers, and becoming an integral part of it, would also engender many musical settings.

Claudio Monteverdi wrote two versions, published in 1610 in his Vespers for the Blessed Virgin, dedicated to Pope Paul V. The first, in seven voices supported by six instruments and basso continuo, is more grandiose in nature. The second, heard here, is a six-part work with continuo that plays the intimacy card but remains one of the most inspired works of the choral repertoire from any period. Few works have so masterfully united the austerity of Gregorian chant with the virtuosity of festal choral style.

In 1989, Arvo Pärt set the same text in a work for solo soprano and a capella choir, divided into verses (the solo voice anchored to one note over a lower melodic line) and tutti sections (in three, four or six voices). Pärt’s Magnificat is a remarkable example of “tintinnabulation,” a style developed by the Estonian composer in which the notes of a root-position chord are treated like three bells, with repetitive musical gestures creating a sensation of timelessness or a continuous present.

Daniel Taylor, countertenor
Alain Lefevre, piano
Les Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal
Theatre of Early Music
Gilbert Patenaude, conductor



Daniel Taylor
A Sony Classical artist, Daniel Taylor is one of the most sought-after countertenors in the world. Daniel appears on 100 recordings which include Bach Cantatas/Monteverdi Choir/Gardiner (for Deutsche Grammophone Archiv and SDG); Renaissance duets with Bowman /Actor Ralph Fiennes/TEM (BIS); Handel’s Rinaldo with Bartoli /AAM/Hogwood (Decca); Cantatas “Before Bach” with Collegium Vocale /Herrewege (Harmonia Mundi); Sakamoto’s pop-opera “Life” with the Dalai Lama and Salman Rushdie (Sony); Bach Cantatas with Bach Collegium Japan (BIS); a Bach recital with the Theatre of Early Music and a recital of Shakespeare’s songs (Sony); Vivaldi Gloria with the Bethlehem Bach Choir/Funfgeld (Analekta); Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater(BIS); four recordings of Handel’s Messiah, these being with the Montreal Symphony/Nagano (Universal), Kammerchor Stuttgart/Bernius (Carus), with the American Bach Soloists/Thomas(Koch) and a CD/DVD with Tafelmusik (Bravo Television). Daniel has recorded the CD/DVD of the Bach B minor Mass with the Ensemble Orchestral Paris/Nelson (EMI Virgin) and also a CD with the Kammerchor Stuttgart/Bernius (Carus). Upcoming recordings include Bach Cantatas with the Magdalena Consort/Chandos, Bach St. Matthew Passion with the Kammerchor Stuttgart/Bernius (Carus) and Handel Messiah with the Handel & Haydn Society/Christophers (Coro).

Daniel’s debut at Glyndebourne in Peter Sellar’s staging of Handel’s Theodora(recorded for Erato) followed on his operatic debut in Jonathan Miller’s production of Handel’s Rodelinda (EMI). He took the title role in Gluck’s Orfeo at the Edinburgh Festival. His North American operatic debut was in Handel’s Cesare at the New York Metropolitan Opera. Daniel receives invitations from an ever-widening circle of the world’s leading early and contemporary music ensembles, appearing in opera (Metropolitan Opera, Glyndebourne, San Francisco, Rome, Welsh National Opera, Canadian Opera, Opera North, Montreal Opera and Munich); oratorio (Gabrieli Consort, Monteverdi Choir/English Baroque Soloists, Bach Collegium Japan, Les Arts Florissants, Berlin Akademie fur Alte Musik, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, King’s Consort); symphonic works (Cleveland, St. Louis, Lisbon, Philadelphia, Tonhalle Zurich, Toronto, Gothenburg, Rotterdam, Montreal); recital (Vienna Konzerthaus, Frick Collection, New York, Forbidden Concert Hall, Beijing, Lufthansa Baroque Festival, Carnegie and Wigmore Hall, London) and film (Podeswa’s Five Senses for Fineline – winner at Cannes and also of a Genie). Daniel Taylor is now recognized as “Canada’s star countertenor” and “Canada’s most prolific recording artist”.

Highlights of past engagements include Handel’s Messiah with San Francisco Symphony/Christophers; Handel’s Rinaldo with the Academy of Ancient Music/Hogwood, Handel’s Israel in Egypt with the Cleveland Orchestra/McGegan; Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Toronto Symphony/Oundjan; Messiah with the St. Louis Symphony/Christophers; Bach Christmas Oratorio with the National Arts Centre/Pinnock; Handel’s Rinaldo at the Munich Opera House/Bickett; Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms with the Philadelphia Orchestra/Dutoit; Handel’s Saul with Bachakademie Stuttgart/ Rilling (for Hänssler Classics); Buxtehude Cantatas with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra/Koopman (Channel Classics); Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Taiwan National Symphony/Grossman (Koch) and Schnittke’s Faust Cantata with the Rotterdam Philharmonic/Gergiev. Daniel also sang at a Pow-Wow of First Nations in Alberta and on Parliament Hill for Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Minister of Canada. He appeared on German Television for the Prime Minister of Germany, on Spanish Television for the Queen of Spain and in a recital for the King and Queen of Sweden. With the Gabrieli Consort/McCreesh, Daniel toured Europe in Purcell’s Odes, appeared in recital on Polish Television and toured Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas; he also appeared in the Bach Christmas Oratorio with the Tonhalle Zurich Orchestra/McCreesh. With the Madrid National Orchestra/Goodwin, he sang in the Bach St. Matthew Passion on Spanish Television. With the Monteverdi Choir/Gardiner, Daniel appeared on the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage joining in concerts and recordings across Europe and North America. With the English Baroque Soloists/Gardiner, he appeared in Handel’s Israel in Egypt at the BBC Proms; returning to the BBC Proms in recital with the Berlin Akamus.

During the last season, new recordings were released : Handel Messiah with the Montreal Symphony/Nagano (for Universal), Bach St. John Passion with the Bethlehem Bach Choir/Funfgeld (Analekta); Daniel also appeared on the new soundtrack with the Cirque du Soleil (Universal). Messiah performances included Dallas Symphony/Rilling, Tafelmusik and a return to Los Angelas and San Francisco Philharmonia Baroque/McGegan. Highlights also included Orff Carmina Burana with National Arts Centre Orchestra /Matheus. Recital appearances across the United States culminated in his return to New York’s Carnegie Hall followed by his return to the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires for Handel’s opera Rinaldo.

Upcoming engagements include the World Premiere of Robert Lepage’s production of Ades’ The Tempest‘, Handel’s Messiah with the Minnesota Symphony/Halls, Handel & Haydn Society Boston/Christophers and the Toronto Symphony/McGegan, Bach Cantatas with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, a recital with the Milwaukee Orchestra and also at Lincoln Centre and a recording of medieval music on the ECM label. Daniel’s latest recording was the new recital disc “Come Again, Sweet Love” on Sony.

As an educator, Daniel has offered master classes at the Beijing Conservatory, the Sao Paolo Conservatory, at the Royal Academy, the Guildhall and the Royal College of Music. He has also given classes at leading Universities across North America.

The University of Toronto recently appointed Daniel Taylor to the position of Head of Historical Performance in the Faculty of Music. Daniel’s responsibilities will include directing the Schola Cantorum Choir and Orchestra at the University of Toronto as well as coaching students in the Opera Department and maintaining a voice studio. Daniel is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa, Artist in Residence at the Opéra de Montréal and Artistic Director of the Quebec International Festival of Sacred Music. Daniel is Artistic Director and Conductor of the Choir and Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music. The Theatre of Early Music performs more than 30 concerts every year in concert halls all over the world.

Theatre of Early Music (TEM)
The Choir and Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music (TEM) records exclusively for Sony Classical Masterworks.The Choir and Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music is an ensemble of some of the world’s finest musicians, sharing a particular passion for early music. Its formation is the result of a search by instrumentalists and singers for opportunities that would allow devotion and dedication to enter into the creative process.The core of the TEM consists of an ensemble based in Canada that is primarily made up of young musicians. Their distinctive style, coupled with its artistic director Daniel Taylor’s expertise and enthusiasm, leads to captivating readings of magnificent but often neglected works. In various combinations, leading international musicians in the field perform on the platform provided by the Theatre of Early Music in concerts conducted by Daniel Taylor in its regular series in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, on tours around the world and on recordings. The choir and orchestra of the TEM appear in some 30 concerts every year, recently having performed on stages in France, Argentina, Brazil, England and China. Future engagements include European, North American, South American and Asian tours in 2010 and 2011.

Guest artists performing with the TEM include Dame Emma Kirkby, Nancy Argenta, Karina Gauvin, Suzie Leblanc, Carolyn Sampson, Deborah York, Robin Blaze, James Bowman, Benjamin Butterfield, Charles Daniels, James Gilchrist, Michiel Schrey, Alexander Dobson, Michael George, Peter Harvey, Daniel Lichti and Stephen Varcoe. In Canada, the TEM is perhaps best-known for its performances of compositions from around the time of Bach; this includes choral literature by Kuhnau, Tunder and Bruhns as well as the early cantatas by Bach himself.

The Theatre of Early Music’s first recording on BIS, Couperin’s Leçons De Ténèbres (Blaze and Taylor) was released in March 2005; critics commented “Beauty of this recording bows to no other.” This highly-praised disc was followed by an imaginative Renaissance programme, Love Bade Me Welcome, featuring the actor Ralph Fiennes reading poetry as well as countertenor duets with Bowman and Taylor. Reviews were unanimous in their admiration for “the legendary countertenor James Bowman in magical duet with the remarkable young star Daniel Taylor.” The most recent release on the BIS label was the Vivaldi disc ‘Stabat Mater’ in June 2009, to be followed soon by the Pergolesi ‘Stabat Mater’ with Dame Emma Kirkby and Daniel Taylor.

The Choir and Orchestra of the Theatre of Early Music, led by Conductor Daniel Taylor, now records exclusively for Sony Classical Masterworks. The best-selling debut disc on the Sony label entitled The Voice of Bach was praised in Gramophone Magazine as “serious music-making of the highest order”. The disc received five stars from both BBC Music Magazine and Classic Music CD, was featured on BBC’s “Desert Island Discs” and received acclaim worldwide including reviews from the Times (London), the Globe and Mail (Toronto), the New York Times, the Guardian (London) and La Scena Musicale (Montreal).

The Theatre of Early Music is motivated by a desire to communicate both text and music to their audience. The TEM explores the depth and substance of the early choral and instrumental literature, sharing their passion and ideas with audiences worldwide. The key aspect involved in the approach of the Theatre of Early Music is revelation: just as in modern-day we have restored the frescoes of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, so do we hope to reveal the original beauty of ancient works. Therein we hope to understand, communicate and celebrate this inspirational music.

The TEM became a registered non-profit organization in 2002 and a charitable organization in August 2004. We continue to value and appreciate the generous contributions of music lovers across Canada

Quebec’s Le Soleil described the Choir of the TEM conducted by Daniel Taylor in concert: “Listening to the 20 pure angelic voices had already moved many to tears. The mix of light but exact timbres conserves a texture that is lithe yet at times sumptuous. The text is sustained and respects the music of the language. Clear intonation and balance were in evidence: unity and cohesion particularly strong. Daniel Taylor directs as he sings, this is to say with an ease and economy of gestures. The result is a most moving ensemble that could not be more supple, more pleasing. Every moment spoke to the audience and answered perfectly, providing it seemed what the audience was searching for. At a concert entitled ‘The Path to Paradise’, apparently, many had found their path.”

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