Psalms of the French Reformation

Claude Goudimel (Composer), Paschal de L'Estocart (Composer), Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (Composer), Christine Morel (Conductor), Ensemble Claude Goudimel (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Ensemble Claude Goudimel
• Conductor: Christine Morel
• Composer: Claude Goudimel, Paschal de L'Estocart, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck
• Audio CD (August 22, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B000001436
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #291,047 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MUST FOR LOVERS OF GENEVAN TUNES, August 4, 2000

By 

Godly Gadfly - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Psalms of the French Reformation (Audio CD)

Recordings of Genevan tunes are rare. GOOD recordings of Genevan tunes are VERY rare. So I'm pleased to inform you that you have discovered something very rare - this is an excellent recording of Genevan tunes!

This CD features the original Genevan tunes originating from the French Reformation, first composed under the influence of the psalm singing Reformer John Calvin in Geneva.

The Goudimel Ensemble sings the melodies accurately, with beautiful harmonies faithful to the time of the Reformation.

The only drawback of this CD for most listeners is that the lyrics are French. However, this is arguably a feature of this CD, attesting to the producer's desire to be faithful to the time of the Reformation by singing the psalms in the language in which they were composed.

There is an air of timelessness about this music - listeners will have the sense that what they are hearing is probably identical to what the French believers in Geneva were listening to nearly five centuries ago.

Highly recommended for historic psalm lovers! At this budget price, you can not pass this up!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly interesting, September 4, 2001

By 

S. Gustafson "Holy Roman Emperor" (New Albany, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Psalms of the French Reformation (Audio CD)

A recording of psalms sung in French is probably not most people's idea of instant excitement. This record surprises, first, by being memorable and refreshing.

Part of the fact that this record is surprisingly entertaining must go to the credit of the composers of the Genevan psalter themselves. The tunes themselves are simple, like folksongs, and just as memorable. Several arrangements of the same psalm are frequently performed in sequence here: the first, with the bare, monodic melody; a simple four part arrangement, and a more flowery and contrapuntal early baroque arrangement.

Another part of the interest held by this record is that the texts of the versified psalms are quite good. Some were written by the famous poet Clement Marot, and others by Theodore Bezy. They are not the best work of either author, but they do not contain some of the forced lines that made the comparable work out of the English Reformation, the Sternhold-Hopkins metrical psalter, never quite catch on. A full lyric sheet would have been nice, though.

When a hymn tune is identified by names such as 'Old 100,' the reference was to the tunes out of the Genevan psalter. These tunes live on in familiar hymns and doxologies still sung round the world. Despite what you might think, this is a quite lively record.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb! The authentic worship of the Reformed Church., March 15, 2007

By 

Alex Moreno Morrison "Alex M. M." (Mexico City, Mexico) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Psalms of the French Reformation (Audio CD)

Reformed churches should restore this tunes to regular use in the public worship of the Lord.