My latest music purchase thanks to the helpful and friendly folks at MadCity Music:
My years of Latin in my younger days paid off as I was able to translate the title as "Today Christ Is Born". I was completely unfamiliar with The Boston Camerata, an early music ensemble, when I listened to a CBC radio show about the winter solstice last month. The show featured "Uterus hodie Virginis floruit" from this album (I think it translates as "Today the womb of the virgin flowers/blooms".) and I found the piece to be simply beautiful.
The liner notes say that it dates back to the 12th century Aquitaine. I don't know how it would have been performed back in Eleanor's day, but here it has a rather simple, sparse arrangement with just voice and what I think is a rebec, a medieval proto-violin. The song is gorgeous, if not sublime, and perfect for some quiet contemplation looking at the snow that covers the trees outside my window.
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