Guillaume Du FAY (c.1397-1474)
Apostolo
glorioso [3:23]
Ave maris stella [4:46]
Entre vous, gentils amoureux [3:11]
Je me complains piteusement [2:06]
J'atendray tant qu'il vous playra [1:49]
Mon cuer me fait tous dis penser [5:58]
Flos florum [3:54]
Sanctus Ave verum corpus (Sanctus Papale) [10:07]
Rite majorem Jacobum canamus [4:21]
Permanent vierge (Johannes Ockeghem) [7:37]
Aurea luce et decore roseo [3:43]
Mon doulx espoir (Hugo de Lantins) [5:01]
Malheureulx cueur, que vieulx tu faire? [5:24]
Puisque vous estez campieur [2:58]
Par droit je puis bien complaindre et gemir [4:00]
Ecclesie militantis [5:29]
Blue Heron Renaissance Choir/Scott Metcalfe
Steven Lundahl (slide trumpet; trombone); Mack Ramsey (trombone)
rec. 11-19 September 2006, Church of the Redeemer, Chestnut Hill,
Massachusetts
BLUE HERON BHCD1001 [73:58]
This recording was released in 2007 but seems to have slipped the MWI
reviewing net until now. The booklet notes for this release are nicely
informative on both Du Fay or Dufay's life and career, as well as on the
piece themselves and the various options and theories about the way the
might be best performed. All sung texts are printed in their original
language and in English translation.
The Blue Heron choir is one with mixed voices, and while the male voices
provide a firm foundation it is nice to hear real sopranos able to soar over
the lines and harmonies below. This is also a mixed programme, with
isorhythmic motets dividing clutches of chansons and hymns. Likewise, full
choir and single-voice interpretations, a capella and voices joined by
instruments all add to the interest and contrast in this recording.
Just taking one piece,
Flos florum, and comparing it with
something like the Hilliard Ensemble on their 'Hilliard Live' series shows
the wide differences to be heard between various performances. The
single-voiced singing of both versions, Hilliard and Blue Heron, is
comparable, but the all-male Hilliard Ensemble has its own colour, and in
this case an effusive intensity which sounds almost romantic. Blue Heron is
cooler but still warmly expressive, the scrunchy impact of the harmonies not
quite as direct through the leading voice with accompaniment effect - the
Hilliard's voices having a more united feel. Ensemble Musica Nova on the Zig
Zag Territories label is somewhere in between, sitting safely in that early
music realm of abstractness but portraying the music in an ecclesiastically
convincing way, without too much ardent passion.
Personal preference will guide you in this kind of music, and you can do
plenty of shopping around. Blue Heron's qualities include transparency of
tone without the perception of too much intellectually imposed constraint.
In other words, their performances are highly enjoyable. Masterpieces such
as
Mon cuer me fait tous dis penser have a sense of freedom and
airy lightness which is very appealing, with all of those delicious moments
savoured without being overly lingered upon. There is a lot of individual
colour between the voices in this ensemble, but somehow it all works
splendidly. Timbres are allowed to emerge from the music with a natural feel
but have also been carefully considered. You don't sense it as effort, but a
lot of work has gone into creating these sounds, and I for one feel
privileged to be able to revel in such a subtly shaped set of
performances.
Collectively this is a very fine programme. The risk with such an
endeavour is that things start to sound too much the same from beginning to
end, but this is the kind of recording that makes you sit up and pay
attention - here from a moment of beautiful stillness, there from some
sparing notes from an instrument or a special antiphonal effect - there is
plenty that is memorable here, and always the anticipation of something
juicy to relish just around the corner. You can't ask much more than that
from a CD.
Dominy Clements
