Music for These Troubled Times explores the melancholy of the past through the keyboard repertoire of the English virginalists of the late 16th and 17th centuries, and links this still familiar state of mind with the present — an age of social and political turbulence, uncertainty, and wars — through Maxim Shalygin’s KHORA. Inspired by Robert Burton’s 1621 treatise The Anatomy of Melancholy, which praises music as a remedy for the troubled mind, the programme moves between contemplative pavanes, witty variations, and complex polyphonic works. It includes rarely performed pieces and a first recording of the anonymous A Ground. Recorded on three unique harpsichords, it features a rare copy after 1579 L. Theewes’ earliest surviving English instrument, a reconstruction of the original state of the 1612 I. Ruckers transposing double-manual harpsichord and a copy of the marvellous 1751 H. Hemsch.

Renaissance: The Masters Series is a 2004 DJ mix compilation by Hernán Cattáneo, released as part of the prestigious Renaissance series. The set showcases his signature progressive house style built on long, fluid transitions, deep melodic structures, and subtle tech-house textures. It moves gradually from atmospheric and warm grooves into more driving, club-focused sections, maintaining a continuous narrative typical of Cattáneo’s DJ approach. The compilation reflects the early-2000s progressive era where emotional depth and hypnotic flow were central to the sound, making it one of the defining entries in the Renaissance series.

Renaissance: The Masters Series by Hernán Cattáneo is a 2009 DJ mix compilation released on Renaissance that showcases his refined approach to progressive house, electro, and tech house. The album is structured as a continuous journey across two discs, blending atmospheric sound design with deep rhythmic progression and carefully selected underground cuts. Featuring collaborations and remixes involving Hernán Cattáneo & Soundexile alongside artists such as Guy J, Henry Saiz, Danny Howells, and Marc Marzenit, the compilation emphasizes emotional build-up, melodic tension, and long-form DJ storytelling. It reflects Cattáneo’s signature style of gradual evolution and layered textures, making it both a club-oriented mix and a detailed listening experience that captures the progressive electronic sound of the late 2000s.

Viva London is a 2007 DJ mix compilation by Steve Lawler released on Renaissance, capturing the raw and underground energy of the London club scene through a tightly curated selection of electro, minimal, and tech house tracks. The mix reflects Lawler’s reputation for driving, stripped-back, and hypnotic club sets, focusing on deep rhythmic structures, gritty basslines, and dark, rolling grooves that define mid-2000s European underground dance music. Featuring contributions from artists such as Dubfire, Adam Beyer, Bushwacka!, Deetron, and Joel Mull, the compilation emphasizes continuous flow and club functionality, delivering a cohesive late-night experience built around tension, progression, and minimalistic but powerful dancefloor energy.

Renaissance: The Masters Series Part 16 - Parallel is a 2010 DJ mix compilation by Hernán Cattáneo released on Renaissance, structured as a dual-disc concept mix representing “Day” and “Night” interpretations of progressive house and tech house soundscapes. The album showcases Cattáneo’s signature deep, atmospheric, and meticulously layered mixing style, blending original productions, exclusive edits, and remixes from collaborators such as Soundexile, John Tonks, Martin Garcia, Guy J, Henry Saiz, and Quivver. The “Day” disc emphasizes melodic progression, emotional build-ups, and organic textures, while the “Night” disc shifts toward darker, more hypnotic, and driving rhythms, creating a cohesive journey that reflects contrasting moods within the same sonic universe and reinforcing Cattáneo’s reputation as a master of long-form progressive storytelling in electronic music.

Renaissance: Sequential is a 2006 double-disc DJ mix compilation by Hernán Cattáneo released on Renaissance, presenting a carefully crafted progressive house and tech house journey built around seamless mixing, emotional progression, and deep atmospheric layering that reflects Cattáneo’s refined global club sound. The compilation moves through melodic, hypnotic, and driving sections with contributions from artists such as Gui Boratto, Way Out West, Phonique, Bushwacka!, and 16 Bit Lolitas, blending uplifting harmonics with darker underground textures to create a continuous narrative experience across both discs that captures the essence of mid-2000s progressive electronic music culture.

Renaissance: The Masters Series Part 7 is a 2006 double-disc DJ mix compilation by Dave Seaman, released on the iconic Renaissance label as part of its influential Masters Series. The album showcases Seaman’s refined progressive house sound during a period when the genre was evolving toward more melodic, tech-influenced, and emotionally driven club music. Carefully curated and expertly mixed, the compilation highlights Seaman’s ability to blend deep atmospheric grooves, driving basslines, and emotionally rich breakdowns into a seamless narrative experience. CD1 leans toward melodic and progressive compositions with lush sound design and hypnotic flow, featuring artists such as Thievery Corporation, Phonique, and Gabriel & Dresden, while CD2 explores deeper, darker, and more club-oriented territory with tougher rhythms and extended late-night energy. Across both discs, Seaman incorporates remixes, acapellas, and exclusive edits to create dynamic transitions and a continuous journey rather than a simple track collection. The result is a cohesive and immersive listening experience that reflects the sophistication of mid-2000s progressive house culture and the Renaissance series’ reputation for high-quality electronic music curation.

Renaissance: The Masters Series Part 3 - Desire is a celebrated double-disc DJ mix compilation by renowned British DJ and producer Dave Seaman, released in 2001 as part of the influential Renaissance Masters Series. Widely respected within the progressive house scene, the compilation showcases Seaman’s signature ability to construct deep, emotional, and cinematic club journeys through carefully layered transitions and sophisticated track selection. Blending progressive house, melodic trance, and tech house elements, the album captures the atmospheric sound that dominated underground electronic music during the early 2000s. Disc one focuses on hypnotic grooves, soulful vocals, and uplifting progressive rhythms with contributions from artists such as Moby, Solid Sessions, and Sister Bliss, while disc two explores darker textures, driving basslines, and emotionally charged late-night energy. The seamless inclusion of acappellas and extended transitions demonstrates Seaman’s refined mixing style and musical storytelling. Desire remains one of the standout entries in the Renaissance Masters Series, praised for its elegant pacing, timeless track selection, and its ability to balance underground club sophistication with melodic accessibility.

Owen Rees leads early-music consort Contrapunctus alongside The Choir of The Queen’s College, Oxford in performances of John Taverner’s masterwork, the Missa Gloria tibi trinitas. A virtuosic work, it has pride of place in the Forrest-Heyther partbooks (in the Bodleian Library in Oxford), which it has been variously argued originated at Cardinal College or at the Chapel Royal.It might well have been heard on Trinity Sunday in the chapel of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey’s palace at Hampton Court.

Founded in Amsterdam in 1979 by Alan Curtis, one of the most acclaimed specialists in the interpretation of pre-romantic music, Il Complesso Barocco, has become a renowned international baroque orchestra with a focus on Italian Baroque opera and oratorio. Their rich discography was for a time devoted to the late madrigal repertory, and the film director Werner Herzog chose the ensemble as protagonists for his film Morte a cinque voci (Prix Italia 1996 and Premio Rembrandt, Amsterdam 1996) dedicated to the composer Carlo Gesualdo.

At the beginning of the 17th century the Brussels court experienced an extraordinary cultural splendour thanks to the Archdukes Albert and Isabella Clara Eugenia, during a period of peace and prosperity in the Southern Low Countries under Spanish Habsburg rule. The sovereigns, who were great collectors and patronized artists such as Brueghel de Velours and Rubens, maintained a magnificent musical chapel with a substantial number of Spanish, Italian and English musicians. It was in this context that the work of the Zaragoza native Pedro Ruimonte unfolded. Master of chamber music under the Archdukes, his Parnaso español (1614) represents one of the capstones in the history of Spanish music.

Although the first violin virtuosos came mainly from Cremona, Brescia or Mantua, it was Venice that swiftly emerged as the principal centre for the development of instrumental music. Moreover, it was there that most collections of this music were printed all through the seventeenth century. It is curious to note that all these virtuosos obviously enjoyed sharing their success with their colleagues: for, alongside works for one or two violins and continuo, almost all the composer-violinists gathered together on this disc conceived sonate, canzone or sinfonie for ensembles of three or four violins. In addition, these compositions often make use of bichoral or echo effects.

Dominique Visse and his group Ensemble Clément Janequin have been involved in many outstanding projects over the years, but this 2002 Harmonia Mundi recording has to be one of the most spectacular; the Missa "Et ecce terrae motus" (aka, "The Earthquake Mass") of Antoine Brumel. Brumel is one of many mid-renaissance composers whose reputations are so far overshadowed by Josquin Desprez that – like Rodney Dangerfield – they "just don't get no respect." In Brumel's own time, however, he was considered one of Josquin's equals and his death in 1512 was widely observed in a number of "déplorations." Although the mass itself survives in only a single manuscript copy, it bears the signatures of singers who revived the work in Munich in 1570 – probably close to a century after it was first given – and among them is a bass named Orlandus Lassus.

Among the different practices of the Renaissance, the act of singing to the accompaniment of the lyre held a special symbolic role, linked to the myth of Orpheus and to the divine figure of Apollo. With its origins in the mid-15th century, this recitation of epic and lyrical texts initially took the form of monophonic music accompanied by the lira da braccio. With the invention of the lirone in the years around 1500, the role of the accompaniment develops into the recitative style of the 1600s which led to the development of the earliest operas.

Biographical and musicological certainties may be in short supply in the life and work of Josquin, but there's no gainsaying the magnificence of the music. This program of shorter works, from The Brabant Ensemble and Stephen Rice, most in unusual guise, celebrates his 500th anniversary.