In 2002, an old notebook was discovered in the historical archives of the Dutch town of Hattem. It contained three long-forgotten Mary-Antiphons, dated 1523.
On their new CD, vocal ensemble Cappella Neerlandica, conducted by Harm Jansen relaunch these works in the original manner.
Among other works for this CD, the antiphon "Ista est Speciosa" was chosen in combination with the Gregorian version of Psalm 147. It is likely that originally this work was performed exactly in this way. Apart from these three antiphons, the CD also features splendid works for organ with compositions by Nicolas de Grigny and Henderick Speuy, played on both the main 3-manual organ (Flentrop-1975) and the small 1-manual choir organ (Slegel-1677) in the Great or Andreas Church of Hattem.
For the three pieces played on the choir organ, the original foot- operated wind mechanism was used.
On Saturday 16 May 2009, the compositions were presented live in Hattem's Great or Andreas Church. It was an unique opportunity to experience this rediscovered wonderful music in the original surroundings. |