Dance Music of the High Renaissance. Collegium Terpsichore, Fritz Neumeyer, Ulsamer Collegium, Josef Ulsamer. Boston Skyline BSD 118 (1993) barcode 730357011823
There are better alternatives from the same sources
Originally posted on Amazon.com, 5 February 2015
Here is all you need to know about sources and alternatives for this CD. It, as well as a number of other CDs published by Deutsche Gramophon and its early music label Archiv Produktion, derive from three different LPs.
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the bulk of it, 23 tracks is provided by the 1960 recording by Collegium Terpsichore conducted by Fritz Neumeyer, originally on Archiv 14 166 APM mono (1960), 198 166 SAPM (stereo 1965; link will open new tab to listing on Discogs.com), “Hochrenaissance” (High Renaissance): 6 dances from Michael Praetorius’ collection “Terpsichore” (1612), 5 tracks of lady-named Gaillards by Erasmus Widmann, from his 1613 collection Musikalischer Tugendspiegel (Sophia & Anna, Clara, Magdalena, Agatha, Regina), and three Suites from Johann Hermann Schein’s “Banchetto Musicale” from 1617 (12 tracks). 
The LP was later reissued with same label number but a different title, “Tanzmusik der Praetorius-Zeit” (Dance music from the time of Praetorius). According to an article by Peter Holman published in the Viola da Gamba Society Journal in 2012 and available online, it was the first recording to draw attention on Praetorius’ collection. It may have been a little far-fetched to call the second decade of the 17th century “Renaissance”, even qualified by a “high”; not that it s important, and I just make the mention because the problem was compounded in some of the CD reissues.
The rest comes from two later LPs by the Ulsamer Collegium led by Josef Ulsamer:
– one track from “Tanzmusik der Renaissance”, Dance music of the Renaissance, originally on Archiv 2533 111 (link to Discogs), recorded in Nuremberg, 8-13 November 1971, published in 1972. Here’s the complete track listing of that album:
A1. Anonymous: Lamento Di Tristano / Rotta
A2. Anonymous: Trotto
A3. Anonymous: Istampita Ghaetta
A4. Anonymous: Istampita Comincia-mento Di Gioia
A5. Anonymous: Saltarello
A6. M. Gulielmus: Bassa Danza À 2
A7. F. De La Torre: Alta Danza À 3
A8. Anonymous: Bassa Danza À 2
A9. Anonymous: Bassa Danza À 3
B1. (published by Attaingnant): Basse Danse La Brosse / Tripla / Tourdion
B2. (published by Attaingnant): Basse Danse La Gatta
B3. (published by Attaingnant): Basse Danse La Magdalena
B4. J. A. Dalza: Calata Ala Spagnola
B5. H. Neusiedler: Der Judentanz
B6. H. Neusiedler: Welscher Tanz Wascha Mesa / Hupfauff
B7. L. Milan: Pavana I / II
B8. A. Mudarra: Romanesca Guarda Me Las Vacas
B9. (published by P. Phalèse): Passamezzo / Saltarello
B10. (published by A. Le Roy): Branle De Bourgogne
B11. (published by B. Schmid): Englischer Tanz
B12. (published by B. Schmid): Tanz Du Hast Mich Wollen Nemmen
B13. (published by J. Paix): Schirazula Marazula
B14. (published by J. Paix): Ungaresca / Saltarello
B15. (published by T. Susato): Ronde
B16. (published by C. Gervaise): Branle de Bourgogne
B17. (published by C. Gervaise): Branle de Champagne
B18. (published by P. Phalèse): Passamezzo D’Italye / Reprise / Gaillarde
Of these, Boston Skyline retains one of the Branle de Bourgogne, either B 10 or B16.
– six tracks from “Tanzmusik des Frühbarock”, Dance music of the early baroque, Archiv 2533 150 (1973), covering the years from around 1570 to 1620. Here’s the track listing for that one:
A1.Giorgio Mainerio: Schiarazula Marazula
A2. Giorgio Mainerio: Tedescha – Saltarello
A3. Giorgio Mainerio: Ungarescha – Saltarello
A4. Giovanni Battista Besardo: Branle – Branle Gai
A5. Anonymous: Mascherade
A6. Simone Molinaro: Saltarello
A7. Simone Molinaro: Ballo Detto “Il Conte Orlando” – Saltarello
A8. Gesualdo Da Venosa: Gagliarda Del Principe Di Venosa
A9. Mario Fabrizio Caroso: Barriera
A10. Mario Fabrizio Caroso: Celeste Giglio
A11. Pierre-Francisque Caroubel: Pavana De Spaigne
A12. Pierre-Francisque Caroubel: Courante
A13. Pierre-Francisque Caroubel: Courante
A14. Pierre-Francisque Caroubel: Volte
A15. Pierre-Francisque Caroubel: Volte
B1. Anthony Holborne: Pavan: The Funerals
B2. Anthony Holborne: Noel’s Galliard
B3. Anthony Holborne: Coranto Heigh Ho Holiday
B4. Anonymous: Kemp’s Jig
B5. John Dowland: Queen Elizabeth Her Galliard
B6. John Dowland: Mrs. Winter’s Jump
B7. Thomas Simpson: Alman
B8. Orlando Gibbons: Galliard
B9. Michael Praetorius: Galliarde De Monsieur Wustron
B10. Michael Praetorius: Galliarde De La Guerre
B11. Michael Praetorius: Reprinse
B12. Valentin Haussmann: Tantz
B13. Valentin Haussmann: Paduan
B14. Valentin Haussmann: Galliard
B15. Valentin Haussmann: Catkanei
The six tracks on Boston Skyline are A7 Molinaro, 12 & 13 Caroubel, B9-11 Praetorius.
The music is great, vigorous and invigorating, the musicians seem to be enjoying themselves tremendously and so do we, and a few tracks of more reflexive music bring a welcome variety. A special highlight is also the the great timbral variety brought from track to track by different instrumental combinations. Although played on period instruments or copies, these instrumental combinations may not be “authentic” as understood by present day musicology and in fact more diverse than those used at the time and in the circumstances, but so what? They are hugely entertaining, and if not authentic, then change the past!
That said, this Boston Skyline CD isn’t the best way to acquire this program: the timing is relatively short (by my computation circa 56 minutes), the price is now not cheap, and, an even more fundamental consideration, there are more complete (and with such an exciting program, more is better) and cheaper alternatives available.
The three complete Collegium Terpsichore 1960 and Ulsamer Collegium 1972 and 1973 albums are on a twofer from DG Panorama, “Dances of the Renaissance”, 469 244-2 (link to my review). It is a much more attractive choice, not just because it offers the complete two programs of Ulsamer Collegium, but also because at the time of writing it offers much better value for money than this Boston Skyline CD.
The first half of that twofer, e.g. the complete Collegium Terpsichore and the first 12 tracks of the 1972 Collegium Ulsamer album are on “Danses de la Renaissance”, a CD from French DG’s budget series “Collection du millénaire”, 476 7722 (link to my review). That too offers a better timing and much better value for money than this Boston Skyline CD.
If your focus is the 1960 recording by Collegium Terpsichore, you have three other options: “Tanzmusik Um 1600”, a 1985 release on DG’s budget series “Favorit”, 447 680-2 (link to my review), has the 23 tracks from the 1960 program by Collegium Terpsichore, plus 7 tracks from the 1973 “Frübarock” program of Ulsamer Collegium (B9-11 Praetorius and B12-15 Hausmann). 
But it has been replaced (despite the identity of titles of one of those CDs) by “Tanzmusik um 1600” and “Renaissance Dance Music”, on DG’s “eloquence” series, respectively 459 379-2 and 469 641-2 (link to my review
), both with the same listing, e.g. the full 1960 Collegium Terpsichore program, now completed by 13 tracks from the 1973 “Frühbarcock” program (A1-3 Mainerio, 11, 13, 14 Caroubel, B9-11 Praetorius, B12-15 Haussmann) and four more tracks from another album of Ulsamer Collegium from 1974, “Tanzmusik des Hochbarock”, Archiv 2533 172 (link to Discogs), covering the second half of the 17th Century and early 18th (and thus making the CD titles out-of-sync with their actual contents. See my review of the two CD for the details).
Now, if your interest is more in these three Ulsamer Collegium albums, the choice should be “Tanzmusik From the Renaissance to the Biedermeier”, Archiv Produktion 439 964-2 (link to my review), a 4-CD set from Archiv gathering, on the first two CDs, the full contents of those three LPs (including the 1974 Tanzmusik des Hochbarock). The rest is a program of 18th and 19th Century Dances by the Eduard Melkus Ensemble.
A cheaper option is “Terpsichore: Renaissance and Early Baroque Dance Music” on Archiv 415 294-2 (link to my review, which gathers roughly half of the content of Ulsamer Collegium’s 1972 Renaissance Dances (13 tracks out of the LP’s 27, A 1, 2, 5, B1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 15, 16, 17, 18) and the complete 42 minutes from their 1973 Early Baroque Dances.
Finally, a reissue on the IMP label, “Dances From Terpsichore”, IMPX 9026, although its timing is not extremely generous and its presentation extremely wanting, offers by far (at the time of writing) the cheapest digest of the Collegium Terpsichore album (Praetorius A2-4, Widmann A8-11, just one movement from the Schein Suites, B12) and the two albums by Ulsamer Collegium, the 1972 Renaissance album (A1, 3, 5, B3, 4, 6, 10, 15-18) and the 1973 Early Baroque LP (A1 & 3 Mainerio, 12-15 Caroubel, B9-11 Praetorius, B12, 14, 15 Hausmann), complemented by six nice tracks from another DG album of Renaissance dances played on guitar and percussion.
After I had sorted out all these sources and alternatives, my own choice, as a collector and completist, became the 4 CD Archiv set with the three Collegium Ulsamer albums, completed by the cheapest CD with the complete 1960 program.