Ein Frölich Wesen
Palle, palle [1:44]
Tart ara [2:13]
J'ay pris amours [3:49]
La Spagna [1:22]
Et je boi autant [0:54]
In meinem Sinn a 4 [1:20]
De tous biens pleine/Et qui le dira [1:36]
Mon pere m'a donne mari a 4 [1:13]
Een vroylic wesen [1:16]
Le serviteur hault guerdonne [4:36]
Tristitia vestra [1:21]
Der Hundt: Das kind lag in der wiegen - Secunda pars [6:31]
Benedictus qui venit [1:53]
Fortuna in mi [2:28]
Par ung jour de matinee [1:27]
Fortuna desperata [1:21]
Sanctus (Fortuna desperata) [1:39]
Frater conradus in fa/Exemplum [1:23]
Fortuna/Bruder Conrat [1:18]
Fortuna disperata/Sancte petre/Ora pro nobis [1:32]
Jacques BARBIREAU (1455 - 1491)
Een vroylic wesen [2:13]
Guillaume DUFAY (c.1400 - 1474)
Le serviteur hault guerdonne [4:36]
Juan de URREDE (c.1430 - after 1482)
Nunqua fu pena magiore [5:05]
Anonymous (15th Century)
Numqua fue pena maior [2:31]
Antoine BUSNOYS ? (c.1430 - 1492)
Fortuna desperata [1:21]
Els Janssens-Vanmunster (chant); Michael Feyfar (chant)
Les Flamboyants/Michael Form
rec. 23-29 June 2010, Temple St. Joan, Mulhouse, France. DDD
CHRISTOPHORUS CHR77360 [62:14]
Isaac seems to have written more mass cycles than any other composer of
the Renaissance. He was esteemed as highly as any other of his contemporaries
- by both musicians and patrons, actual and potential. Unhappily, his secular
music has scarcely received the attention it undoubtedly deserves. Only
an incomplete and out of date edition exists: that of Johannes Wolf (Vienna)
from over a century ago.
Of the astonishingly small number - fewer than half a dozen! - of CDs devoted
exclusively to Isaac only a couple contain any of his secular material.
Now along comes this pleasing, well-conceived and nicely-executed newcomer
from the dozen-strong German group, Les Flamboyants, which was founded by
director and flautist Michael Form in 1997. It contains two dozen or so
short secular pieces by Isaac supplemented by a handful of complementary
works by contemporaries, the most notable being Le serviteur hault guerdonne
by Dufay - also one of the CD's longest pieces.
Indeed, variation is a feature of the CD. Variation between sung and textless,
between instrumental and vocal grouping/combination, between miniature and
ensemble, and between reflective and more outgoing pieces. The collection
also alternates between the six composers. Isaac's music has enough substance
and interest not to need to be presented as a potpourri. The same
is true of Busnoys and of the much less well known Jacques Barbireau and
of Juan de Urrede. The listener comes away with a sense of roundness in
Isaac's and the others' musical intentions. It seems as though Isaac could
turn his hand to anything.
Perhaps to illustrate that competence, dexterity and flexibility, Form has
chosen to place a sequence of ten compositions at the heart of this CD.
This builds, subtly, miraculously, surreptitiously, almost, on a well known
chanson melody. These numbers combine that melody with formulae and methods
used in antiphonal responses and invocations to the Gregorian Litany of
the Saints. The distribution is five-fold: the original, two tenors (primus,
secundus), then two more freely composed accompanying vocal lines.
The achievement of Les Flamboyants is, among other things, to have produced
musically pleasing, compelling and beautiful wholes which seem as effortless
and convincing as they in fact represent tours de forces. There's
nothing self-conscious or self-regarding here. However technically complex
the writing, the music, voices and instrumental lines flow with a warmth
and ease that make listening a delight. Yes, there is contrapuntal and textural
substance and depth but in the end - as the composers would want - we enjoy
the aural experience. Nor is the vital role, the clarity and incision of
the text overlooked or underplayed. Each piece emerges as a fully-valid
work in its own right. Each track, if you will, is a little gem.
The performances have such edge and control that you await the next as the
present finishes. You feel, by the end of the hour or so's music, that you
have had an insight into the composing practices of the late fifteenth century
and become familiar with several its best known compositions. There’s
also a sense of the richness of this unpretentious and winning music.
The performers, then, are fully in tune with their idiom, their delivery
is unostentatious, clean and yet full of expression. They sing and play
from 'inside' the music, not as advocates for it. Although a strong case
could be made for advancing Isaac's cause until he's seen by a wider music-loving
public as the major figure that he is. The tone, palettes, momentum, colour
and indeed immediate literary and historical worlds that are recreated by
these performers are compelling indeed. By the way, it's conjectured that
Palle, palle [tr.1] refers to the battle cry of the Medici.
There's a perfect balance of declaratory confidence and gentleness, maybe
at times gentility, in these performances. Les Flamboyants are specialists
in the period, to be sure but the music is projected as worth listening
to rather than offered as a sample of something. Enunciation of the texts
is as clear as articulation of the various instrumental timbres and dynamics.
The latter vary almost from item to item and certainly provide real and
unflagging sonic and mental interest.
In place of gimmicks or self-conscious 'extras' Form and Les Flamboyants
live up to the group's name: they're full of style and class but never let
veneer obscure substance. This is music to be studied, enjoyed, marvelled
at and, above all, to become familiar with. It's much more than technical
model, curiosity, historical exemplum. It stands in its own right and Les
Flamboyants explain just why.
The booklet is nicely informative; especially in providing each manuscript's
source. That said, it is imperfectly proofed. It contains the texts of just
eight of the works in the original with German translations. The acoustic
is close, focused and conducive to careful listening. Though not too dry,
the instruments and voices sound more immediate than deliberately staged
for effect. Isaac is too important a composer, his music too special and
beautiful, for almost any and every collection of performances thereof not
to be seized on by lovers of early Renaissance music.
Mark Sealey
A delightful and expertly-performed collection of music by unjustly overlooked
Renaissance luminary, Isaac.
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