I'm so happy to have moved home. Been away for thirty years, and have come back not a moment too soon.

This one gets my vote!

jfc

Only saying because it’s true…

When I say “routinely” … I talk about attitudes to female voices in early music, together with the medieval/ #earlymodern perspective, in this lecture from 2020
bsky.app/profile/laur...

I’d even understand better if it just said “all voices” even though that would not be true. It’s the gendered qualification that’s so tiring.

I get all of this. Coming back to the specific tho: the textures on the album are:
chant
3 and 4 solo vv
2vpp 3vv polyphony
2vpp 4vv polyphony
All the above + organ
All the above + organ and viol
1, 2, 3, 4 vv + lute
3vv + lute and viol

Most pieces >2mins long also vary the texture in the piece.

Right, got it. But wouldn't the same obtain with an extended exposure to the same instrumental texture? Maybe it's also affected by the prestige of the repertoire or the performer. Did anyone review the Köln Concert recording and say it's boring?

Oh, that's interesting. You mean extended exposure to the human voice? Something for me to think about....

That is LOVELY. It absolutely deserves a text - it got words spinning round my head almost as soon as it started.

Southampton City Art Gallery is one of the unsung jewels of the South. Particularly when I was on my own with the eldest, it was a fab place to go on a rainy afternoon. There was a café and a permanent table of kid's activities; medieval and Renaissance art, Rodin, Burne-Jones, Gilbert and George...

Oh, that machine delighted my children when they were little (now 32 and 25). One of the highlights of regular visits to the gallery.

I thought maybe we'd got past this kind of #everydaysexism but I guess I was wrong.
5/5

In 1581, Duke Guglielmo Gongaza said, "Women? Big deal. I'd rather be an ass than a lady," presumably commenting on the animal's vocality and subservience. (Gran cosa son le Donne, in effetto io vorrei essere innanzi un Asino che una Donna.)
4/5

Substitute "female" with "male," or "all female voices" with "string quartet," and no reviewer would dare.

[note, the textures vary from single voice with lute to eight voices with organ and viol with almost every combo in between]
3/5

And then I read this in a recent review of Musica Secreta: "... with the limited contrast of all female voices it’s probably best to be a bit selective rather than take this extensive programme in a single sitting."

2/5

May you only have one thing at a time today.