Daniel And The Lions (Ludus Danielis) New York’s Ensemble for Early Music & Frederick Renz

• Traditional:
• 1 Quarte estampie real 11:15
• 2 Entry of Belshazzar’s court 07:10
• 3 Entry of Belshazzar’s queen 03:19
• 4 Entry of Daniel 11:25
• 5 Exit of Belshazzar’s queen and the court 02:21
• 6 Interlude: Belshazzar’s lament 04:09
• 7 Entry of Darius’court 04:28
• 8 Presentation of Daniel 03:21
• 9 Daniel’s accusers 04:31
• 10 Daniel is thrown to the Lions 01:18
• 11 Visitation of the angel 05:47
• 12 Daniel’s salvation and prophesy 04:43
• 13 Te Deum 06:46
• Total Runtime 01:10:33

Info for Daniel And The Lions (Ludus Danielis)

One basic feature, which determines the difference between fonè and other record companies, is the recording of performances in their natural spaces, that is in the places where they were originally presented. This leads to a constant search for suitable locations, and the choice of churches, theaters, country mansions, drawing rooms and so on. The recordings are carried out with the utmost simplicity, the only way not to do violence to the music: all the equipment is high fidelity; use is made of valve-type paired microphones manufactured in the years 1947 and 1949 (U47, U48 and M49) with an extremely natural and transparent timbre and a bi-microphonic field effect; these microphones have a very important history: they were used to record the Beatles at the Abbey Road Studio and by the RCA for the "Living Stereo" recordings.

Extracted from booklet notes… The Ludus Danielis is part of the Christmas cycle of liturgical dramas. It belongs, that is, to the group of texts which originated as figures to speech, or annotations, of the Christmas religious office, wherein they evolved with specific features of their own, if not as independent spectacles. (Luigi Bellingardi)

Frederick Renz is a unique figure in the early music movement. Equally adept in all forms of music and music drama from the 11th through the 18th centuries, he has reaped international acclaim for his work as conductor, producer, director and performer while leading EARLY MUSIC NEW YORK to preeminence in the field.

New York’s Ensemble for Early Music
Frederick Renz, director

Frederick Renz
studied harpsichord with Gustav Leonhardt in Holland as a Fulbright Scholar. He was keyboard soloist with the legendary New York Pro Musica Antiqua for six seasons and founded the Early Music Foundation when the former organization disbanded in 1974. Under his enterprising direction, EARLY MUSIC NEW YORK has earned accolades worldwide for its vibrant performances of music and music drama from the Middle Ages through the early classical periods.

For his pioneering work in the genre of medieval music-drama, maestro Renz has received numerous accolades including commissions from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Play of Mary Magdalene, Resurrection Play of Tours and Raising of Lazarus/Conversion of St. Paul; Sponsus:Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins), Spoleto Festival USA (Herod and the Innocents) and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (Play of St. Nicholas, Daniel and the Lions and Le Roman de Fauvel). Frederick Renz has also received two Producers Grants from the National Endowment for the Arts' Opera/Musical Theater Program and a grant from the Ingram Merrill Foundation.

A noted harpsichordist, Frederick Renz has given numerous solo recitals, appeared with orchestras and chamber groups in New York, and has recorded for Lyrichord, Foné, Decca, Vanguard, Musical Heritage Society, Musicmasters and Nonesuch. As an educator, Renz has served as Visiting Professor and Artistic Consultant for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Oklahoma, the Fundacion del Estado para la Orquesta Nacional Juvenil (Venezuela), the Athens Festival and the Tokyo Summer Festival. Mr. Renz was recently awarded an honorary doctorate from the State University of New York in recognition of his research and the performance of historical music.

Booklet for Daniel And The Lions (Ludus Danielis)