Chants de Noël polonais anciens
In natali Domini

Ensemble QuattroVoce

Marta Wroblewska, soprano
Pawel Pecuszok, ténor
Aleksandra Pawluczuk, mezzo-soprano
Przemyslaw Kummer, basse-baryton

Perio Instruments Consort (instruments d'époque)

Adela Czaplewska, viole de gambe, flûte à bec ténor
Filip Zielinski, luth, guitare de la renaissance
Krzysztof Owczynik, vielle à roue, flûtes à bec, cornemuse, crumhorn, percussion, cloches
Jacek Urbaniak, bombarde, flûtes à bec, cornemuse, cloches

The joyful and celebratory Christmas habits are usually associated with a beautiful, charming and very special musical entourage, deriving from a long-standing tradition and perpetuated customs. Old customary Christmas traditions are strictly based on archetypic early music of a given society, and is therefore a continuum and a heritage of the sophisticated high culture, and – on the other hand – the multigenerational folkloric tradition maintained and passed down over centuries. The majority of Christmas tunes and musical works have been repeatedly recorded. However, there are still several undiscovered or less known musical resources existing worldwide, e.g. ancient manuscripts or valuable scores from Middle Ages and Renaissance onwards to the present, that are expecting content analysis, inventory procedures, new interpretation and phonographic records. In fact, discovering those historical mysterious material may provide a new quality to the European and Polish culture. Specifically, Christmas celebration may not necessarily be associated just with familiar traditional carols, but may be revitalized in a way, due to unique musical masterpieces recovered in historic places. Early music re-found in monasteries, churches and libraries could tell us new stories. The present CD offers three categories of early music, representing different genres: Christmas songs included to the little-explored Staniatki Cantional originating from 16th to 18th centuries, dances from the Cracow Lute Tablature (16th c.), and two four-voice sacred pieces by prominent Polish composers...