He Chose Me

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
This talented baritone from Oklahoma can really sing. Standout tracks include the title song, I Thirst, and Then Jesus Came. Produced by Dove Award nominee Dave Moody, features Art Bain, Rick Murray, Mylan Hayes and Sharon Hodges.

He Chose Me, Music, Ron Jarman, CCM

Love's Illusion-Music From The Montpellier Codex 13th Century
Average customer rating:

Excellent Rendition of Early Music. Buy It.

Fun and full of love

from a newcomer viewpoint

Love's Illusion

OUTSTANDING

Love's Illusion-Music From The Montpellier Codex 13th Century
Anonymous 4 , and Marsha Genensky
Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Tracks:

Montpellier Codex: Plus Bele Que Flor - Quant Revient - L'autrier Joer - Flos Filius (Mo 21)
Montpellier Codex: Puisque Bele Dame M'eime - Flos Filius (Mo 231)
Montpellier Codex: Amours Mi Font Souffrir - En Mai - Flos Filius (Mo 111)
Montpellier Codex: Ne Sai, Que Je Die - Iohanne (Mo 185)
Montpellier Codex: Si Je Chante - Bien Doi Amer - Et Sperabit (Mo 311)
Montpellier Codex: Or Ne Sai Je Que Devenir - Puisque D'amer - Kyrieleyson (Mo 267)
Montpellier Codex: H? Dieus, De Si Haut Si Bas - Maubatus - Cumque (Mo 92)
Montpellier Codex: Celui En Qui - La Bele Estoile - La Bele, En Qui - Iohanne (Mo 20)
Montpellier Codex: Qui D'amours Se Plaint - Lux Magna (Mo 215)
Montpellier Codex: Amours, Dont Je Sui - L'autrier, Au Douz Mois - Chose Tassin (Mo 270)
Montpellier Codex: Au Cuer Ai Un Mal - Ja Ne M'en Repentirai - Jolietement (Mo 260)
Montpellier Codex: Quant Voi La Fleur - Et Tenuerunt (Mo 241)
Montpellier Codex: Quant Se Depart - Onques Ne Sai Amer - Docebit Omnem (Mo 131)
Montpellier Codex: Joliement - Quant Voi La Florete - Je Sui Joliete - Aptatur (Mo 34)
Montpellier Codex: Amor Potest Conqueri - Ad Amorem Sequitur (Mo 238)
Montpellier Codex: Ce Que Je Tieng - Certes Mout - Bone Compaignie - Manere (Mo 33)
Montpellier Codex: J'ai Si Bien Mon Cuer Assiz - Aucun M'ont - Angelus (Mo 128)
Montpellier Codex: Ne M'oubliez Mie - Domino (Mo 236)
Montpellier Codex: J'ai Mis Toute Ma Pensee - Je N'en Puis - Puerorum (Mo 255)
Montpellier Codex: Blanchete - Quant Je Pens - Valare (Mo 168)
Montpellier Codex: Dame, Qeu Je N'os Noumer - Amis Donc Est - Lonc Tans A (Mo 337)
Montpellier Codex: Li Savours De Mon Desir - Li Grant Desir - Non Veul Mari (Mo 323)
Montpellier Codex: Entre Copin - Je Me Cuidoie - Bele Ysabelos (Mo 256)
Montpellier Codex: S'on Me Regarde - Prenn?s I Garde - H?, Mi Enfant (Mo 223)
Montpellier Codex: Quant Yver La Bise Ameine - In Seculum (Mo 223)
Montpellier Codex: Ne M'a Pas Oubli? - In Seculum (Mo 207)
Montpellier Codex: On Doit Fin[e] Amor - La Biaut? - In Seculum (Mo 134)
Montpellier Codex: Ja N'amerai Autre Que Cele - In Seculum (Mo 3)
Montpellier Codex: Quant Je Parti De M'amie - Tuo (Mo 200)

Amazon.com essential recording

How's this for a concept: "True love may exist only outside of marriage, and a man must subject himself totally to the will of his beloved, whether or not her requests seem rational." If you think these ideas strange, be glad you weren't looking for love in France in the Middle Ages. These precepts course through thousands of song lyrics and love poetry during the 12th and 13th centuries and some of them appear on this exceptional recording by Anonymous 4. Specifically, these four women perform 13th century French motets found in an important manuscript known as the Montpellier Codex. These polyphonic works span the entire century and thus express a variety of styles. Sometimes the use of texts is striking, as when a love song, a diatribe against hypocrisy, and a rousing drinking song are sung simultaneously. Not bad, if you can get away with it. Anonymous 4 can-and does. --David Vernier

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Rendition of Early Music. Buy It........2005-10-29

`Love's Illusion' is the third album done by the medieval vocal quartet, `Anonymous 4' and the first recording for them of secular motets, although it is important to note that to my relatively uneducated ear, I find it hard to discern the difference between these French love songs and their renditions of medieval church music.

This is not to say I have a totally tin ear but rather to indicate that there is as strong or stronger connection between these secular songs and the liturgical music of the day as there is between Aretha Franklin's soul singing and Southern Baptist church songs. One would be foolish to think that church music influenced secular music for the first time in 1956.

The text for these songs is based on the Montpellier Codex from the 13th century and, as I said, are all in what I believe is an early version of French. The accompanying booklet gives all the French lyrics, plus translations of these lyrics into English and German (since the record company, harmonia mundi, is, I believe, headquartered in Germany and the recording is manufactured in Germany.

While this is the first album I have reviewed by this group (named after an anonymous 13th century English writer on music who lived and worked in Paris and wrote about the music done) I have been listening to their recordings for several years now and I decided to start with this one and leave some of the liturgical works for later, closer to the Christmas season.

On a purely visceral level, I like this recording very much. On an intellectual level, I believe this is as good or better than any other medieval pieces, and most other Renaissance vocal pieces I have heard, except for some works with larger choruses such as Guillaume Du Fay's Mass for St. Anthony of Padua and Ensemble Gilles Binchois recording of eleventh century French Polyphony.

For those who are new to Anonymous 4 recordings, they are generally done not in a studio but in the nave of a large church, so there is a distinct sense of their singing in a great open space, with little or no sense of electronic enhancement. I really like this effect for this music and find it just one more reason to recommend this and other Anonymous 4 recordings. I think my highest recommendation comes from the fact that I can listen to this recording many times over and not become tired of it. There are other unusual types of music such as Russian chants, tangos, and even jazz which I can take for an hour or so and then must change. This material I can listen to for hours on end.

Highly recommended for fans of early music or for people who want something different.

Fun and full of love.......2005-10-13

This is a wonderful collection of chansons, or songs, from medieval France. It is different from many Anonymous 4 collections in that this is a piece of secular songs, primarily dealing with courtly love; the songs are particularly influenced by the Arthurian romances, very much in vogue at that time. This is a collection of motets - a musical style that came out of polyphony and is an important bridge between chant and modern song styling.

The Montpellier Codex has over 300 different motets (not including duplications), including many double motets, where the tenor piece is based on a plainchant, and different voices have their own texts. These 'fin amours' songs were most likely performed mostly in private entertainment settings, and song have argued that certain parts should be done by instruments rather than voices. Of course, the Anonymous 4 is an a capella group, so that idea does not come into practice here.

This is a playful and fun recording, full of lovely songs that reach the heart in strong ways.

-- Liner Notes --
This text accompaniment to this disc is very full, so much so that the booklet is not contained within the jewel case, but rather within a slipcover in which both the CD/jewel case and the booklet reside. The liner notes include a description of the work, a brief piece about the quartet, and the lyrics of the songs both in original language and in translation - all repeated in English, German, and French sections (however, the French lyrics are in the older French language; a modern translation would be helpful). The cover art is a section of the lovely Tapestry, Lady and the Unicorn, Atelier of the Loire Valley, 'mille fleurs', fifteen century in the Museum of Cluny, France.

-- Anonymous 4 --
Contrary to the implication of their name, the Anonymous 4 are not anonymous. This is a vocal quartet made up of Ruth Cunningham, Marsha Genensky, Susan Hellauer, and Johanna Rose at the time of this recording (Ruth Cunningham will later go on to a solo career early, and another member will join - Jacqueline Horner). They came together as a formal group in 1986, and have been ensemble-in-residence at St. Michael's Church in New York City, giving concert series in New York as well as throughout North America. They have been featured a number of times on national media in North America as well as Germany. They then went on to yet more success, eventually performing more that 1000 concerts worldwide.

Their specialty is working with chant, monophonic and polyphonic music, and working with medieval texts. According to one source, 'The group takes its name from an anonymous music theorist of the late 13th century, Anonymous IV, who is the principal source on the two famous composers of the Notre Dame school, Léonin and Pérotin.'

The group ended a touring career of nearly two decades in 2004.

from a newcomer viewpoint.......2003-02-23

LOVE'S ILLUSION is one of those uncanny instances that make tradition more unusual than avant-garde. Having two to four texts in an archaic language sung on top of each other makes the album at once chaotic and highly ordered. Some texts were clearly written after one another (cf. track 24), whereas others have but a random connection. Harmonically, however, everything falls into place.
I'm still fairly new to classical music, so I can only speak of my attempts at overcoming my difficulties in listening to mediaeval polyphony. When one knows any piece of music has a text, one wants to be able to hear the words - even if one doesn't know the language -, and this is main reason why a first listening of LOVE'S ILLUSION may be disturbing, if not annoying. One initial solution is to think of it as instrumental, and take the words for granted; I suggest also repeated listening of your favorite tracks, while trying to follow one singer's voice, with booklet in hand. I have paid some attention to this record and I believe it has helped me.
The major flaw of this record is not presenting a translation of the 13th century French songs into contemporary French. The difference is indeed quite astounding.

Love's Illusion.......2002-12-11

Overall: Monotonous, irritating. I had a headache after only three cuts, and the cut I really wanted is barely recognizable as the melody of interest. Let's just say that this is a sound (i.e., all female vocals, no instrumental variety), regardless of performers, that I do not go looking for.

OUTSTANDING.......2001-01-11

This is an excellent recording of some of the most beautiful music from the 13th Century. The vocal quartet "Anonymous 4" does a superb job, especially considering the entire CD is sung in Old French. This may well be the most peaceful and reaxing CD you will ever own.

Average customer rating:

No Illusions About This Breathtaking CD

Love's Illusion

Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Motets | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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4-for-3 Opera & Vocal | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music
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A Portrait Of Anonymous 4

ASIN: B00008OE1E
Release Date: 2003-05-13

Customer Reviews:

No Illusions About This Breathtaking CD.......2006-11-14

First I should say that the content of this Limited Edition CD seems to not vary in any way from the much more expensive, regular version. Regardless of whatever differences there might be between the two, this one is extraordinarily beautiful -- quite possibly the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. Four incredible female vocalists sing these haunting motets from the 13th century Montpellier Codex, a series of French medieval love songs. These are not those irritating could-be-spiritual-or-profane ditties, but music about true romantic devotion and disillusionment. The CD includes an entire booklet of the lyrics for each motet first in the original medieval French, then translated into English. This is almost impossible to find anywhere or else I would have purchased the music directly on iTunes, as I was dying to have them as soon as possible. I cannot recommend this CD more highly.

Average customer rating:

Great musical team!

He Chose Me

Manufacturer: Light Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
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Ralph Carmichael and Friends Live

ASIN: B0006BHRYK

Product Description

Ten Gospel tracks by Dave Boyer with the Ralph Carmichael Irchestra are: He Chose Me, Try Again, I Believe In You, G.H.A. Medley, The Rock, He's There waiting, O' Speak To Me, When I Think Of The Cross, Part Time Applications, and Where There Is Jesus.

Customer Reviews:

Great musical team!.......2007-01-06

The combination of Dave Boyer and the legendary Ralph Carmichael is an incredible musical team. It is reminiscent of the big band era, produced with a great program of gospel music. Smooth vocals, classy arrangements and meaningful songs. Great Christian music done in an unforgettable style. This is one of my all-time favorite CDs.

Average customer rating:

INSPIRING

He Chose Me

Manufacturer: Lamon Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000065UQI
Release Date: 2002-04-01

Tracks:

I Thirst
Mercy in the Wilderness
He Chose Me
Tell Me When, Tell Me Where, Tell Me Why
He Looked Beyond My Faults
When They Ring the Golden Bells
I Love Jesus More
Then Jesus Came
Thank You Jesus
When the Savior Reached Down For Me

Album Description

This talented baritone from Oklahoma can really sing. Standout tracks include the title song, I Thirst, and Then Jesus Came. Produced by Dove Award nominee Dave Moody, features Art Bain, Rick Murray, Mylan Hayes and Sharon Hodges.

Customer Reviews:

INSPIRING.......2002-04-18

This album is certainly anointed. It is so soothing to listen to. The songs are easy to listen to and to worship with. Everyone would benefit from obtaining this project.

There is a mixture of old favorites and new releases.

Music:

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