MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


 REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
CD: Crotchet AmazonUK AmazonUS


The Study of Love
Anonymous
Pour vous servir
[3:27]; Puis que l'aloe ne fine [1:51]; Jour a jour la vie [3:35]
Guillaume de MACHAUT (c. 1300-1377)
Dame, je suis cilz / Fins cuers
[2:21]
Anonymous Combien que j'aye [1:46]; Marticius qui fu [3:50]; Renouveler me feist [2:42]; Trop plus / Biaute paree/Je ne suis [1:25]; Fist on, dame [2:07]; Il me convient guerpir [1:54] Tres bonne et belle [2:22]
Anonymous Le ior (Faenza codex) [3:22]; En la maison Dedalus [3:03]; Combien que j'aye [1:40]; La grant biaute [2:10]
PYCARD (fl c. 1410)
Gloria
[4:02]
Guillaume de MACHAUT
Se mesdisans [4:37]
Anonymous
En esperant
[3:28]; Ay las! Quant je pans [3:42]
Guillaume de MACHAUT
Dame, je vueil endurer [2:28]
SOLAGE (fl late 14th century)
Le basile
[2:17]
Gothic Voices: Margaret Philpot (alto); Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor); Andrew Tusa (tenor); Julian Podger (tenor); Leigh Nixon (tenor); Stephen Charlesworth (baritone); Donald Greig (baritone); Andrew Lawrence-King (medieval harp); Christopher Page (lute and director)
rec. Boxgrove Priory, West Sussex, 29 April-1 May 1992. DDD
HYPERION HELIOS CDH55295 [58.09] 
Experience Classicsonline

Among the most developed and beautiful musics in the history of the world was the French motet. During the high medieval period composers such as Guillaume de Machaut wrote complex, intertwined, ethereal melodies with rhythmic intricacies that rival anything ever created. Simultaneously these works were focused on a melodic and lyrical timelessness that has stood the test of the centuries. The sacred motets were written to invoke the glory of God and the secular ones were created to glorify in sound the courtly ladies that were the poet's inspiration. So successful were the composers that, even for those who don't understand medieval French, the simple sound of the words evokes the expressed moods of love.

The songs selected here are brilliant gemstones of the genre. The majority of them are a capella duets and trios. Where we know who the composers are they are among the giants of medieval music. Indeed, Guillaume de Machaut is considered by many to be the single most important composer of the 14th century. Most of the songs included here have several musical lines swirling around each other. The remainder are either instrumental or use a vocal continuo to form harmonies while one or two other vocalists sing above the lower, more static harmonies. Unlike baroque music these pieces do not feel highly constructed. Rather they feel as if they are organically composed, with the various parts simply being brought together because they would be incomplete if they stood apart. This is, obviously, the goal of a master composer, and here the music lives on long after the musicians have crumbled to dust.

Such an appraisal would be an impossibility without exquisite performance. Simply spoken, Gothic Voices are among the best at bringing these sounds back to life. The seven vocalists sing beautifully together, playing off each other and flawlessly locking into the interwoven sonic tapestry. The lute and medieval harp, when played well, are exquisite to listen to. Gothic Voices managed to find two modern masters of these instruments.

Even the packaging is well done, thoughtfully prepared, and helpful for the listener. The director writes briefly about the selections and about the period they represent. The original texts and translations are provided side by side in the booklet and the performances are notated so that one can easily reference which performers sing or play in each work.

This is simply a masterpiece. In particular Pycard's “Gloria”, Machaut's “Dame, je suis cilz/Fins cuers”, and “Jour a jour la vie” are gorgeous and also stand out as fabulous performances. Every piece is in fact well done and has been selected for its musical worth. The collection was lovingly created and masterfully performed. This will suit any lover of medieval music, or indeed most lovers of music in general, very well indeed.

Patrick Gary

see also review by Brian Wilson



 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.