- Neidhart - supersonic pizzicato award & ICMA Nomination 2013
The second CD:
Neidhart - A Minnesinger and his 'Vale of Tears'
With the birth of the new year, a new CD by Ensemble Leones saw the light of day: This second album came out on January 2nd 2012 and is dedicated to the minnesinger "Neidhart". The CD represents a complete recording of the earliest source of Neidhart songs with melodies, the so-called "Frankfurt Neidhart-Fragment" (c1300). The 6 Neidhart songs are complemented with lively instrumental pieces and 2 songs by Neidhart's colleages: "The virtuos scribe" and Walther von der Vogelweide. To the CD.
Link to the "Making Of" on the NAXOS website.
Personally recommended by Klaus Heymann (director of NAXOS): "The so-called ‘Frankfurt Fragment’ has never been recorded in full and is here performed by one of the most outstanding ensembles in the field. This is a major contribution to our catalogue of medieval music and highly enjoyable listening."
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- 5 Diapason & ICMA Nomination 2012
The debut-CD:
Les fantaisies de Josquin - The Instrumental Music of Josquin Desprez
The first CD-publication by Ensemble Leones has just been released on the Christophorus label. It features instrumental compositions by Josquin Desprez as well as the world premiere recording of Arvo Pärt's composition "Sei gelobt, du Baum" ("Be praised, o tree"). For more information about this CD, as well as some trivia which you won't find in the booklet, click here: About the CD.
"Dear Mr Marc Lewon, it is a wonderful production!!! Cordial thanks to all the musicians. Arvo Pärt" (Mr Pärt's reaction to the finished CD in June 2011)
Founded by director Marc Lewon, Ensemble Leones is dedicated to presenting medieval music through concerts, recordings, and radio broadcasts. The ensemble’s work is characterised by performances that take into account historical sources to create subtle reconstructions and stylistically informed arrangements. Because of the diversity of the music it performs, the size and configuration of Ensemble Leones varies according to the nature of every project.
The musicians perfoming with Ensembles Leones are well established in the world of concerts, recordings, and broadcasts and are also playing and singing with other leading ensembles for medieval and renaissance music, such as Ensemble Gilles Binchois, Ferrarra Ensemble and The Earle His Viols as well as working with individual artists like Andreas Scholl, Dominique Vellard and Benjamin Bagby.