The Lion's Ear La Morra

• 1 Lirum bililirum 03:14
• 2 (Rostibolli) Gioioso 02:11
• 3 Vivite felices 02:46
• 4 Ricercar (Ness #4) 00:53
• 5 De mon triste desplaisir (After Jean Richafort) 01:53
• 6 Fantasia De mon triste 02:24
• 7 Che farala, che dirala 02:31
• 8 Spem in alium 02:50
• 9 Se mai, per maraveglia 05:18
• 10 O vos omnes 02:32
• 11 Ecce video celos apertos 03:29
• 12 Jerusalem, convertere 01:18
• 13 Recercada 02:45
• 14 Lautre yor per un matin (After Anonymous) 04:15
• 15 Fortuna disperata 05:09
• 16 Fortuna disperata - Sancte Petre 01:33
• 17 Quid retribuam tibi, Leo? 01:54
• 18 Cela sans plus 02:43
• 19 In omni tribulatione 01:31
• 20 Ricercar (Ness #10) 01:39
• 21 O stella maris (After Anonymous) 04:35
• 22 Canon di papa Lione x a 3 voci 01:30
• 23 Salve, Regina 06:43
• Total Runtime 01:05:36

Info for The Lion's Ear

In 1512, Giovanni di Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici (1475-1521) was the eldest surviving male member of the senior line of the celebrated Medici family of Florence, the eldest surviving son of the mythic Lorenzo “il Magnifico.” Giovanni had inherited his family’s refined interest in and zealous support of the arts: literature; painting, sculpture, and architecture; and music. But of all of these, Giovanni – perhaps due in part to his poor eyesight – favored music, for which his passion was legendary among contemporaries. The musical life of Leo’s court was unimaginably rich and vibrant, as innumerable eyewitness accounts confirm.

Our CD aims to bring that world acoustically to life, to revive the soundscape of the Leonine court and illustrate the range of practices typifying Leo’s own musical experiences. It is intended as a tribute to a rare and extraordinary patron of music (himself a composer and musician), who occupied that singular position at the very summit of the universal ecclesiastical hierarchy.

La Morra

La Morra
formed in 2000 and named after Heinrich Isaac's famous instrumental piece, is among the leading formations specializing in the performance of European music traditionally referred to as 'late Medieval' and / or 'early Renaissance' (roughly c1300-c1500).

A melting pot of national temperaments, the ensemble makes its home in Basle, the cultural capital of Switzerland, where research into the 'early music' and its performance has been practiced for many decades. Under the artistic leadership of Corina Marti and Michal Gondko, La Morra re-defines itself according to the requirements of the projects it undertakes.

La Morra has performed at some of the most prestigious European and North-American Early Music events, including Festival van Vlaanderen (Belgium), Rencontres de Musique Médiévale du Thoronet and Voix et Route Romane (France), Tage alter Musik in Regensburg (Germany), Kilkenny Arts Festival (Ireland), Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht (The Netherlands), Oslo Internasjonale Kirkemusikkfestival (Norway), Misteria Paschalia and Muzyka w Raju (Poland), Festival Internacional de Música da Póvoa de Varzim (Portugal), Freunde alter Musik Basel and Forum Alte Musik Zürich (Switzerland), Houston Early Music, The Da Camera Society of Mount St. Mary's College, The Chamber Music Society of Saint Cloud and the Early Music Guild of Seattle (USA). Concert tours have also taken the ensemble to Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.

La Morra’s CD releases are enthusiastically received. Among the proofs of this are such distinctions as the Gramophone Award Nomination, Classical Music Awards Nomination, Diapason d’Or, Preis and Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik and the constantly high ratings in the international music press.

Booklet for The Lion's Ear