DUFAY. Le Prince d'amours
/ Ensemble Gilles Binchois
[22.12.2021]
evidenceclassics.com |
medieval.org |
sonusantiqva.org
Evidence EVCD082
Recorded: November 2013
Released: 5 march 2021
1. Par droit je puis bien complaindre et gemir [3:29] rondeau
2. Dona gentile, bella come l’orou [4:33] rondeau
3. Belle, que vous ay je mesfait [2:21] instrumental version
4. Les douleurs dont me prends tel somme [5:06] rondeau
5. L’alta belleza [2:42] ballata
6. Je ne suy plus tel que souloye [2:24] rondeau
7. Adieu m’amour, adieu ma joye [5:21] rondeau
8. He compaignons, resvelons [2:30] instrumental version
9. Ce moy de may soyons lies et joyeux [3:42] rondeau
10. Estrinez moy, je vous estrineray [3:39] rondeau
11. Ce jour le doibt, aussi fait la saisone [4:] ballade
12. Ne je ne dors, ne je ne veille [5:34] rondeau
13. Resvelons nous, resvelons amoureux / Alons ent bien tos au may [0:44] chanson
14. Pour l’amour de ma doulce amye [3:51] rondeau
15. Mille bonjours je vous presente [2:23] instrumental version
16. En triumphant de Cruel Dueil [5:51] rondeau
17. Adyeu, quitte le demeurant [1:58] instrumental version
18. Je me complains piteusemente [2:22] ballade
19. Franc cuer gentil [1:49] instrumental version
20. Mon chier amy, qu’avés vous empensé ballade [6:41] ballade
[22.12.2021]
[22.12.2021]
medieval.org Remarks
http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/cds/remarks.html
19 December 2021
Todd M. McComb
———
Not unlike the Josquin entry below, the new Ensemble Gilles Binchois
album devoted to Dufay reprises, somewhat, their older disc from 1987.
(So that's an even longer interval, but EGB has also been active this
entire time....) And not to ruin the suspense, but I've added it to my
personal list.
Not so unlike the prior entry, though, there's little
real conceptual update here. Rather, it's some younger (& older...)
performers with a crisper style of articulation, & that much more
precise with their period instruments too.... It's also basically the
same arrangements of Dufay by David Fallows, dating back decades now.
(And I'm not the first person to note that some updated settings would
be worthwhile!) There are even the keyboard tracks that seem to define
every Dufay chanson album... i.e. the Buxheim factor.
So I don't hear a
rethinking here at all, but it's still an enjoyable album in a
straightforward way, colorful & clearly articulated. And to
elaborate, particularly considering the "rethinkings" e.g. of
contemporaneous secular material by Comet Musicke, or of epochal
Josquin settings even more recently by Graindelavoix, it seems as
though Dufay's songs are really calling out for a new treatment.
This
is some of the greatest material in Western music history, and e.g. the
recent Zacara set (of music not so far removed, chronologically or
geographically, from much of this...) also shows that the various
stylistic strands can be interrogated in a richer & more detailed
fashion.... (It's also been a long while since an all-vocal Dufay
chansons album, i.e. the Northern orientation, appeared....) The
overall flow here, nonetheless, is definitely enjoyable, on a wonderful
"linguistic" foundation, and around an outstanding single-disc
(approximately one quarter of the Dufay chansons...) program.
http://www.medieval.org/music/early/cdc/evi082.html
Dufay. Le prince d'amours
Chansons
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Dufay's chansons are some of my favorite music, and this is the latest presentation by an ensemble involved with the repertory for over 30 years now....
That said, although the timbres & articulation are sparkling, the basic interpretive approach & arrangements continue to be those of decades ago. There is thus nothing new to the interpretation in any particular technical sense, but rather an update on an established style. And it's an enjoyable style, so I'm enjoying the program. (In many ways, it's an obvious companion to the Ensemble Gilles Binchois Binchois album, although that's now almost 25 years old itself....)
It's also appealing that they've squeezed so many of the chansons onto this single disc. I enjoy more extended or elaborated performances too, but this provides the listener with the most breadth & variety....
Todd M. McComb
[22.12.2021]