Lute Music for Witches and Alchemists / Lutz Kirchhof

Antony Holborne (Composer), Johann Daniel Mylius (Composer), Nicolas Vallet (Composer), Matthaus Reymann (Composer), Athanasius Kircher (Composer), Luis de Milan (Composer), Luys de Narvaez (Composer), Francois Dufaut (Composer), Esaias Reusner (Composer), Michael Maier (Composer), Joachim Bernhard Hagen (Composer), Silvius Leopold Weiss (Composer), Adam Falckenhagen (Composer), Anthony Holborne (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Composer: Antony Holborne, Johann Daniel Mylius, Nicolas Vallet, Matthaus Reymann, Athanasius Kircher, et al.
• Audio CD (March 21, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00004S38O
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,891 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #12 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Strings > Lute
  • #45 in Music > Classical > Instruments > Strings > Guitar

Track Listings

1. Fairy Rownde for lute

2. Courante 1, for lute

3. Courante 2, for lute

4. Volte, for lute

5. Le secret des muses, lute book (2nd ed. of Secretum musarum): Battaille

6. Noctes Musicae, for lute: Chorea 1

7. Tarantella, for lute

8. Work(s): Unspecified Fantasia, for lute

9. Cancion del emperador, for vihuela

10. Baxa de contrapunto

11. Cancion in the 1st tone, after Nicolaus Gombert's Canzon, for lute

12. Diferencias (7) for guitar on 'Guárdame las vacas'

13. Muy Linda for viol consort

14. Suite for lute in A minor

15. Suite for lute in A minor

16. Suite for lute in A minor

17. Suite for lute in A minor

18. Suite for lute in A minor

19. Suite for lute in D minor

20. Suite for lute in D minor

See all 30 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, Stately Music By A Master, January 2, 2003

By 

M. Hori "Jesse Glass" (Urayasu, Chiba Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lute Music for Witches and Alchemists / Lutz Kirchhof (Audio CD)

Sorry folks, but the title of this CD might be a bit misleading. You will not hear Halloween sound effects, or "A Night on Bald Mountain" Disney-style. Instead you will be treated to meditative music based on the theories of Ficino, Agrippa, and others. Kirchof does us all a favor by fleshing out what has previously been locked away in archives and rare publications and allowing us to hear each composition as it was originally meant to be heard. A good book to buy with this CD would be D.P. Walker's classic Spiritual and Demonic [as in Socrates' daemon, not the kind from the uh-oh place] Magic (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000). This music is meant to heal and not to hurt; meant to uplift and enlighten the mind and not to drown it in darkness. And besides all that folks, it's just plain pleasant to drink wine and eat cheese to. In addition, Lute Music For Witches and Alchemists has great liner notes that give the low-down on each Hermetic ditty. M & M it's not, thank Plato, Plotinus. Ficino, and the stars!

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars NOT dull at all!, June 12, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Lute Music for Witches and Alchemists / Lutz Kirchhof (Audio CD)

I can't agree with the above reviewer, whose dislike of this CD seems out of proportion. I too have a huge collection of lute records built up over the years, and used to play the lute (though not well enough for the public stage). Therefore I also have a strong basis of comparison between this and other similar works, and can't see what such negative judgment is based upon. The repertoire itself? This album contains a good representation of the periods it covers, the playing is exquisitely clean and spirited, the recording quality is clear with a "big" sound, and the instruments Kirchhof uses are obviously high-quality ones, with both resonance and brightness. I can't make the adjective "sad" compute at all, and wonder if the local 11-year-old's expectations were influenced by other more familiar types of music? Renaissance and baroque lute take some getting to know. They are not the sort of thing kids are over-exposed to, and must compete in their minds with a lot of more popular forms. In fact there is plenty of life in this beautifully played 73-minute album. Hear it and judge for yourself.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite work, August 22, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Lute Music for Witches and Alchemists / Lutz Kirchhof (Audio CD)

Phenomenal lute playing, top rate. Repertoire is fantastic. Lutz is well-named, as he has the true spirit of the lute in his hands. This CD has not left my CD player. Most everyone who hears it wants a copy. I've bought 4 copies already.