Blue Heron’s collaborations always yield audible results. In some cases, the results include recordings not available on Blue Heron’s own label. Below, in reverse chronological order, you will find more information on those recordings, and how to hear them—and order your own copy, if you wish. To hear some live performances recorded by WGBH Radio in Boston, visit our Podcasts page.

CAPTURING MUSIC: THE STORY OF NOTATION

Blue Heron recorded the companion CD for the book “Capturing Music: The Story of Notation” by scholar and master storyteller Prof. Thomas Forrest Kelly of Harvard University (W. W. Norton, fall 2014). Susan Hellauer of Anonymous 4 says ”with Blue Heron’s expertly and lovingly produced recordings, this is so much more than a book—it is something rare and wonderful.” Alex Ross of The New Yorker says it is “lucid and engrossing”.

The audio CD contains 16 tracks and is not sold separately.

Click here for information on purchasing the book “Capturing Music” with companion CD. ISBN 978-0-393-06496-4. 256 pages.

VOCAL VIBRATIONS

In early 2014 Blue Heron recorded material for “Vocal Vibrations,” a project of Tod Machover (of MIT’s Media Lab) that “explores the relationships between human physiology and the resonant vibrations of the voice.” The recordings were combined with other materials into two related compositions used in two public installations in Paris and Cambridge. “Chapel Music” is for collective listening in an open space, and “Cocoon Music” is for individual experience in a specially-designed chair. Visitors may participate while holding an ORB that allows them to “experience their voices as tangible patterns of vibration.”

The exhibition at Le Laboratoire in Paris ran from March 28 to September 29, 2014, and then moved to Le Laboratoire Cambridge in Kendall Square, where it will be open from October 31, 2014, to March 22, 2015.

For more information on the Vocal Vibrations project and the exhibit, including an audio sample, visit this site.

A CONCERT AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

The Library of Congress hosted a special concert on October 30, 2013, in Coolidge Auditorium, featuring three ensembles. The program was entitled “Party Like It’s 1587” and was offered on the birthday of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, a great benefactor of concerts at the LOC and an early music enthusiast. In addition to Blue Heron, The U.S. Navy Band’s Brass Ensemble and Piffaro, the Renaissance wind band from Philadelphia, performed. The concert ended with Piffaro joining Blue Heron on stage for a finale. Click below to watch the event in its entirety.

 

THE OXFORD ANTHOLOGY OF WESTERN MUSIC

En mon cuer by Guillaume de Machaut and Oscellecto salvaggio by Jacopo de Bologna were recorded by Blue Heron for The Oxford Recorded Anthology of Western Music, a 2-CD set released in 2012, edited by David J. Rothenberg and Robert R. Holzer. ISBN 9780199768288.

The Recorded Anthology contains works found in the first volume of the Oxford Anthology of Western Music (The Earliest Notation to the Early Eighteenth Century), edited by David J. Rothenberg and Robert R. Holzer. The Oxford Anthology accompanies The Oxford History of Western Music, by Richard Taruskin and Christopher H. Gibbs (2013). 

For more information on the contents of these books and recordings, visit the Oxford University Press website.