Dufay

Modern ears have been subjected to a sound world so complex and chaotic–and just plain noisy–that it's impossible for us now to really appreciate the original contextual significance of works such as these 15th century motets of Guillaume Dufay. We can enjoy them on many levels and we can intellectually understand their importance, but when we hear these very complex rhythms, and harmonies that often have a strange, vacant quality, we can't erase from our memory the fact that we've heard Brahms and Ives and Stravinsky. But I picked those three composers because each owes something to Dufay and to others who wrote in ancient forms and styles, in this case the isorhythmic motet. Much like Bach's works were at the same time a summation and epitomization of the Baroque, so were these motets of Dufay in their way a final, ultimate statement regarding one of the more sophisticated musical forms of the Middle Ages.

Guillaume Dufay - Chansons - Tetraktys (2005) {Olive Music om 005}
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© 2005 Olive Music | om 005
Classical / Early Renaissance / Medieval / Early Music / Chamber Music

Jill Feldman has appeared under the direction of such distinguished musicians as Frans Brüggen, Andrew Parrot, Jordi Savall and René Jacobs. Kees Boeke has given seminars and master classes in recorder and early music around the world including the Deller Academy (Lacoste, France 1972-1982), Corsi Internazionali di Musica Antica (Urbino, Italy 1975-1982), Early Music Festival, Vancouver and has been artistic director of the International Early Music courses at San Floriano. He has recorded for all the major companies before starting his own label, Olive Music.

Music for Alfonso the Wise by redoubtable English period instrument ensemble the Dufay Collective is not a collection of usual suspect Cantigas de Santa Maria, but attempts to re-create the lost heritage of the secular music that surrounded Alfonso X's court during his reign. Utilizing instruments reconstructed from miniatures, paintings, and other iconography dating from Alfonso's time, the Dufay Collective relies on music found within the Cantigas, manuscript sources outside it, remaining old musical practices still held over in "world music," and its own inventiveness to create an album that nonetheless smacks of authenticity.

L'arbre de mai (The Tree of May) is a terrifically presented album of early Renaissance music, one that tries to place the listener inside the musical culture of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries and does a highly imaginative – sometimes overactively imaginative – job of it. The album divides its 19 works into four thematic groups: Love and Youth, the Tree of May, War and the King, and the Evening of Life. Within each group, works by high-Netherlandish composers like Dufay and Compère are mixed with anonymous works of a more popular quality, and vocal works alternate with instrumental dances.

The Dufay Collective - Cancionero: Music for the Spanish Court (1470 - 1520)
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 273 MB | Full Artwork: 159 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Avie # AV0005 | Country/Year: UK 2002
Genre: Classical, Early Music | Style: Late Medieval, Renaissance

"…This release focuses on the Spanish Court of Ferdinand and Isabella and the music is drawn from three "Cancioneros," or Spanish songbooks, from the early Renaissance era. There is an amazing range of material presented among the 31 tracks on the disc, from gentle instrumental solos to bombastic courtly dances and even some folksy-sounding secular choral pieces. Although the Dufay Collective is primarily known as an instrumental group, all of the vocalizing here is splendid, with the singing of Vivian Ellis being particularly outstanding in its ease of delivery and tasteful use of decoration. This recording comes highly recommended." 4,5/5 ~AMG

The Dufay Collective - Cancionero: Music for the Spanish Court (1470 - 1520)
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 273 MB | Full Artwork: 159 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Avie # AV0005 | Country/Year: UK 2002
Genre: Classical, Early Music | Style: Late Medieval, Renaissance

"…This release focuses on the Spanish Court of Ferdinand and Isabella and the music is drawn from three "Cancioneros," or Spanish songbooks, from the early Renaissance era. There is an amazing range of material presented among the 31 tracks on the disc, from gentle instrumental solos to bombastic courtly dances and even some folksy-sounding secular choral pieces. Although the Dufay Collective is primarily known as an instrumental group, all of the vocalizing here is splendid, with the singing of Vivian Ellis being particularly outstanding in its ease of delivery and tasteful use of decoration. This recording comes highly recommended." 4,5/5 ~AMG

The bulk of this disc of music by Isabel Mundry is given to her seven-movement Dufay-Bearbeitungen (2003-2004) for chamber ensemble. These are more than just arrangements, though; Mundry takes the Dufay motets and puts them into a sonic context in which their ancientness is refracted through a thoroughly modern sensibility. She achieves this largely through instrumentation and by creating a mysterious aural environment in which the Dufay pieces play themselves out, and acquire new, illuminating emotional resonance.

The works of the 15th-century composer Guillaume Dufay are often considered to be where medieval music ends and Renaissance music begins. Yet Dufay sounds quite different from later, better-known Renaissance composers such as Palestrina, Victoria, and Josquin: Dufay's music is less densely scored, with more stratified voice ranges, very complex rhythms, and a somewhat neutral emotional affect. Pomerium, a New York-based choir with extensive experience in Dufay, presents here one of the composer's largest works: a setting of both the ordinary (Kyrie, Gloria, etc.) and the propers (texts specific to the occasion) of the Mass for the feast of St. Anthony of Padua. Pomerium's polished performance makes this a fine addition to the Dufay discography.

This recording contains the Missa Puisque je vis, almost certainly by Dufay, and Compère’s Omnium bonorum plena written in praise of the Virgin Mary, as well as motets by Dufay and other sources, all of which help colour our increasing awareness of the florid richness and emotional devotion of music before Baroque, till recently the starting point of most people’s awareness of the art. Characteristics of Dufay are his intricate workmanship and the development of independent balance among the vocal parts that lead us naturally to the satisfying clarity which has itself given old music a strangely contemporary feel.