Gardens of Delight: Roses, Lilies & Other Flowers in Medieval Song

Featuring

Clare Norburn
Leah Stuttard
Ariane Prüssner
The Telling
Anonymous (Traditional)
Anonymous

Alfonso X of Castile
Guillaume de Machaut
Anonymous (early 14th century)
Johannes Ciconia
Antonio Zachara da Teramo
Hildegard of Bingen

Did you know?

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Performer Biography

Clare Norburn, a soprano and playwright, co-founded the Brighton Early Music Festival and has developed a new genre of concert/plays for actors with live music.

Composer's Artistic Vision

The album's theme, 'Gardens of Delight', explores how lilies and roses symbolize purity and love in both sacred and secular medieval texts.

Recording & Production

The album was recorded in 24-bit, 96kHz hi-resolution and features cover art inspired by the 13th-century rose window of Strasbourg Cathedral.

Performer Biography

Leah Stuttard, the medieval harpist on this album, has worked with renowned artists like Jordi Savall and the Italian group Micrologus.

Historical Context

The modern concept of a 'composer' was largely unknown in the Middle Ages; music was often a collective creation, with the 'writer' rarely being the musician.

Performer Biography

The Telling, the ensemble on this album, is known for creating intimate, staged concerts that combine medieval music with new writing, narrative, readings, or film.

Compositional Technique

Medieval composers often blurred the lines between sacred and secular, sometimes combining texts and melodies from both contexts within a single piece.