Album Notes

Cappella Sonora is an ensemble of musicians based in Tempe, Arizona, dedicated to Medieval and Renaissance music. The group's primary focus is small-ensemble vocal music, but many of their performances are enhanced by the use of authentic "period" instruments whenever possible. Their debut CD features the music of Renaissance master Josquin des Prez. The group has crafted unique arrangements of some of his most famous secular songs, accompanied by lutes, recorders, hurdy-gurdy, harps, and percussion. The disc also includes several of Josquin's larger pieces, including the starkly moving "Nimphes des bois," a musical eulogy by Josquin for the most celebrated composer of the preceding generation, Johannes Ockeghem. Finally, the disc includes the rarely-heard "Missa sine nomine" ("unnamed mass"), a tour-de-force of compositional technique in which the composer creates a complex web of canons (large sections of music which "echo" each other) as a framework, yet still retaining the emotional expression which he is remembered for.