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Welcome to the Castle Classics Early Music Home Page. What exactly is Early Music? The definition is, of course, arbitrary, however Early Music is normally considered to be all Western Music composed prior to the death of Bach in 1750. However, this encompasses the Baroque period (1600-1750) for which we have a separate section so, at Castle Classics, we have included composers who were born and flourished prior to 1600. Inevitably, some composers' lives spanned our definition of both Early Music and Baroque, so if you find they are missing from one section, they will almost certainly be in the other!

Early Music Composers - Click on any of the names below to view the recordings available featuring the music of that particular composer.

The Best of the Early Music New Releases - Click on the image to see more details

AV9861 Various: Musica Notturna - Invocation A La Nuit [In Praise Of Night] - Andrew Lawrence-King, harp; Hesperion XXI ; Le Concert des Nations ; La Capella Reial de Catalunya ; Montserrat Figueras ; Arianna Savall; Ferran Savall ; Jordi Savall, conductor - The Alia Vox 10th Anniversary Album!
Did you know that most Alia Vox albums were recorded between 1 and 4 am? Not only because of tight recording schedules, but also because the night creates an very special quality of silence... This double album is the best possible tribute to Alia Vox' short but intense history. Not just an 'anniversary CD': it is a fascinating musical journey, based not only on existing material, but also on unreleased recordings and on future albums.
Recordings from the Astrée catalogue are also included in this definitive overview of a major component of Jordi Savall's creative process: the night.
Deluxe packaging and beautiful artwork as we have come to expect from Alia Vox - Happy Birthday!. £12.98 2 CD Set

J G de Padilla: Streams of Tears - The Sixteen; Harry Christophers, conductor - TA disc dedicated to a master of the 'New World'. Padilla was a composer of 'New Spain' - the country we now call Mexico. Whilst born in Malaga in the late 1500s he emigrated to Puebla, Mexico in 1620 to compose music in the 'New World'.
'Streams of tears' reflects not only the penitential nature of this programme, the tears shed for Christ on the cross, but also that period in history known as the 'Siglo de Oro', when Spain and Portugal were masters of the great ocean and in the process of discovering and developing new lands in the Americas and Padilla is symbolic of this age. This was a time when the church had money as well as a great appreciation of art in the service of the church not only in Europe but in the new cathedrals of Mexico.
The music of this period is as varied as it is distinctive, with a harmonic richness and colour that is found nowhere else.
"Here was fascinating, mostly unfamiliar repertoire, and canny programming...Mirabilia testimonia tua ... had a wonderful sunshine blare" The Times
"All the music is of a high quality and it is excellently performed." The Gramophone. £12.99

CC72190 G d'Épinal: Remembrance - Ensemble Syntagma; Alexandre Danilevski, director. Dictionaries and encyclopedias often mention Gautier d'Épinal in articles dealing with the music in Lotharingia. Several writers refer to an obscure medieval figure to whom are attributed some 15 to 30 chansons. The researches of the Marquis of Pange a century ago have identified him as the chevalier Gautier V d'Épinal, who was born between 1205 and 1230, and died in 1272. This Gautier belonged to a remarkable family that had ruled the town of Épinal from the eleventh to the fourteenth centuries. However, Robert Lug proposes a completely different identification in his publication Der Chansonnier de Saint-Germain-des-Prés. According to Dr. Lug, Gautier was a cleric, the nephew of the Bishop of Metz. This Gautier died around 1232. Gautier's writings reveal the hand of a seigneur rather than a cleric or a functionary, while the absence of compositions after 1232 is easily explained by the fragility of documentation in the hands of time and by the eternal human passion for destruction. In any case, the traits discernible in Gautier's biography can be attributed either to a chevalier, a cleric, or a functionary. Even his chivalrous, courtly and pragmatic Ars amatoria can be interpreted in all sorts of ways.
Contrary to the conventions of courtly literature of his time, the poetry of Gautier gives us considerable insight into his inner world. Whatever Gautier's lot, whether he was a seigneur from humble Ruppes or a lowly cleric from Metz, the essence of the man is found in his music. As with all the trouvères, it would be dangerous to place a definitive ascription on these melodies. But the cycle associated with Gautier represents a body of work characterized by undeniable unity, cohesion and uniqueness of style. £13.99

CHR77285 H von Meissen: Mystical Reflections in the Middle Ages - Sabine Lutzenberger, vocals; Norbert Rodenkirchen, medieval flutes & harps - This collection of Medieval Songs is collectively known as "Der Taugenhort". The author is most likely Heinrich von Meissen (1250-1318), known as Frauenlob (Praise of women) and this collection is regarded as one of the masterpieces of lyrical poetry from the Middle Ages.
Sabine Lutzenberger has been one of the outstanding vocalists in the field of medieval music for over twenty years. Norbert Rodenkirchen has a world wide reputation as specialist in the music of this period. His concert tours have taken him around the world. £13.99