Guillame de Machaut - Dreams in the Pleasure Garden

14 tracks - MP3 192 Kbps - RAR 123 Mb


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This program offers 14 chansons of Guillaume de Machaut in nearly ideal performances. We hear the songs as the composer's intentions are now understood, one voice to a part without accompaniment. Most of these songs have been recorded before, though not as well as this group sings them. The rondeau Certes mon oueil and the ballade Une vipère have never been recorded before, and He! dame de valour was recently recorded only on instruments. The ballades De Fortune and Se quanque amours have never been recorded as well as these, and the ballade En amer has never been recorded entirely with voices. The ballade Je puis trop bien has never been recorded satisfactorily or completely.

An important and familiar piece is the rondeau Ma fin est mon commencement in a version quite as good as the Hilliard Ensemble's fine recording. The ballade De toutes flours is another of the few selections that are already available in fine versions. For the most part, this disc gives us beautiful singing in some of Machaut's more difficult songs. As Daniel Leech-Wilkinson says in his notes, the songs we hear today have "memorable tunes, regular phrasing, strong metre and clear harmony." Most of the songs on this disc are not so gratifying to the modern ear. They give us an insight into Machaut's most daring efforts at composition, largely from his middle period around 1350. One of the finest Machaut discs. JEROME WEBER

 

contents:

1. Tant doucement (4 voices)
2. Comment puet on (3 voices)
3. De Fortune (3 voices)
4. Mors sui (2 voices)
5. Se quanque amours (4 voices)
6. Je ne cuit pas (2 voices)
7. Liement me deport (voice)
8. Je puis trop bien (3 voices)
9. Certes mon oueil (3 voices)
10. En amer a douce vie (4 voices)
11. He! Dame de valour (voice)
12. Une vipere (2 voices)
13. Ma fin est mon commencement (3 voices)
14. De toutes flours (4 voices)

Orlando Consort
Robert Harre-Jones (alto)
Charles Daniels (tenor)
Angus Smith (tenor)
Donald Greig (baritone)