School of Rock
Random article All articles A–Z
2 languages

Lionel Meunier

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Lionel Meunier leads Vox Luminis, a Belgian vocal ensemble for early music. Under his direction the group has recorded mainly music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, often on the Ricercar label and later also on Alpha. Its recording of Heinrich Schütz's Musicalische Exequien became well known, winning a Gramophone Award and a prize at the International Classical Music Awards in 2012. That work is funeral music for voices, one of the finest pieces in the German early Baroque repertoire.

Music and breakthrough

The repertoire is broad. Recordings have appeared of Samuel Scheidt, Domenico Scarlatti and Orlando di Lasso, of motets by Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Christoph Bach and Johann Michael Bach, and of Requiems by Johann Fux and Johann Kerll. The ensemble also recorded Bach's Actus Tragicus and the album Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, about Luther and the music of the Reformation. It also performed English Royal Funeral Music in 2013, with works by Morley, Purcell, Tomkins and Weelkes, and in 2018 Henry Purcell's King Arthur.

Influence

Vox Luminis shows that a small choir of soloists, without a conductor who puts himself in the foreground, can produce a clear and transparent sound. In this way these recordings have become a reference for the performance of early vocal music.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Schütz's Musicalische Exequien and notice how the voices alternate and blend. Can you hear how a small group fills a large space?

Discography

Studio albums

Categories: Artists