{"id":9520,"date":"2013-02-04T08:47:45","date_gmt":"2013-02-04T13:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=9520"},"modified":"2013-02-04T08:47:45","modified_gmt":"2013-02-04T13:47:45","slug":"preview-schola-magdalena-finds-new-and-ancient-music-have-more-in-common-than-we-might-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2013\/02\/04\/preview-schola-magdalena-finds-new-and-ancient-music-have-more-in-common-than-we-might-think\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: Schola Magdalena finds new and ancient music have a lot in common"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_0796\"<\/p>\n

Julia Armstrong, a member of Toronto unaccompanied vocal ensemble Schola Magdalena, reveals some of the thinking behind the group’s latest concert programme — to be heard at the Church of St Mary Magdalene on Friday:<\/em><\/p>\n

When Schola Magdalena received a performance invitation from Waterloo\u2019s new music organization NUMUS<\/a>, we initially asked ourselves, \u201cA new music concert? Us?\u201d After all, we\u2019re a group of six women who specialize in singing medieval music.<\/p>\n

But upon reflection, we realized that the NUMUS mandate \u201cto explore the bold sounds and ideas of a new generation of composers and performers while celebrating the innovators of the past\u201d was a good fit.<\/p>\n

We enjoy singing everything from plainchant to contemporary polyphony based on chant. And there have been times when we\u2019ve marvelled at how \u201ccutting-edge\u201d Hildegard\u2019s texts are and how newfangled and experimental certain pieces must have sounded to listeners in the Middle Ages.<\/p>\n

This week we have the opportunity to showcase both ancient and new on the same program: Schola Magdalena Sings Medieval and Modern is part of the NUMUS main concert series on Thursday, Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. (see details here<\/a>). We repeat the concert in Toronto the next day at 8 pm at our home venue, the Church of St. Mary Magdalene<\/a> (pay what you can).<\/p>\n

P\u00e9rotin, one of the composers featured, definitely qualifies as an \u201cinnovator of the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

His \u201cSederunt principes,\u201d a masterpiece of organum quadruplum, is arguably the most avant-garde item on our program and yet it was written in the 13th century.<\/p>\n

The foundation of the piece is the plainchant Gradual for St. Stephen\u2019s Day, stretched out into impossibly long notes, above which three voices weave a tangled web of dissonant counterpoint, parallel organum, hocket, and every other medieval device known to the School of Notre Dame.<\/p>\n