Musicke of Sundrie Kindes

Renaissance secular music between 1480 and 1620 is large in quantity, high in quality, rich in color, diverse in form and very different in content from a similar time-span of any later period with which we may be more familiar. This set of four compact discs provides a comprehensive survey of sixteenth-century secular music. Composers include not only the accepted masters of the Renaissance such as Josquin, Lasso, Marenzio, Obrecht, Isaac, Sermisy, Janequin, Gesualdo, Gabrieli, Monteverdi and Gibbons, but also many of their lesser known contemporaries. This seminal recording - offering nearly 100 tracks over four hours - receives it's first release on CD. The presentation is eight-fold and the eight topics are interdependent but recognizably individual. Taken together, they cover secular music in a fairly comprehensive way for the purpose of an introduction. In addition to Anthony Rooley's original note for the LP set (reproduced here), he has contributed a new introduction for this CD release. All texts and translations are included, making this a sumptuous offering.