Guillaume de Machaut & le Codex Faenza Ensemble Tre Fontane

Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300 – April 1377) was a medieval French poet and composer. He is regarded by many musicologists as the greatest and most important composer of the 14th century. Machaut is one of the earliest composers on whom substantial biographical information is available, and Daniel Leech-Wilkinson called him "the last great poet who was also a composer".[This quote needs a citation] Well into the 15th century, Machaut's poetry was greatly admired and imitated by other poets, including Geoffrey Chaucer.

The Mass by Machaut is the earliest complete setting of the Mass text that we have. It was composed for performance in a specific church (in which this recording is made) for a specific occasion and has performance connections to the composer and his family. The performance is excellent and the recording quite clear, especially the mass, using the acoustic of a large stone church.

This is the second recording of Machaut's music by the all-male Orlando Consort (countertenor on top), and their way with Machaut is excellent. They have a nice, light tone in the secular pieces that contrasts with the more severe Gothic Voices, and they convey the weighty, ceremonial quality of the big motets. Machaut goes far enough back that nobody can be sure of how it sounded (and the graphics for this all-vocal album show a painting including instruments), but if you like the unaccompanied approach, this will do as well as anything for putting the basic sound of Machaut in your head. And "basic," in the best way, describes this album in another respect as well: the booklet notes by Anne Stone (given in English and French) give the most complete, and more importantly most enthusiastic, introduction one could ask for in a few pages to Machaut's stylistic world.

Guillaume de Machaut was one of the great composers of a pivotal period at the intersection between the late medieval times and the Renaissance. His works include sacred compositions, such as his Messe de Nostre Dame, which took polyphonic music to new summits, as well as popular dances and songs that reveal the influence of the trouvères.
Yet this disc actually contains little music by Machaut. Only the last two pieces are by him. This leads to a bit of confusion: is Calliope trying to use Machaut’s name to sell a compilation of medieval music? This barely seems necessary, yet there is clearly some ambiguity.

Guillaume de Machaut was one of the most influential composers of the 14th century, and his secular love songs were as significant as his sacred masterpiece, the Messe de Nostre Dame. The Orlando Consort began its survey of Machaut's music with the 2013 album, Songs from Le Voir Dit, which was followed by The Dart of Love in 2015, and A Burning Heart in 2016, thus making Sovereign Beauty, their 2017 release on Hyperion, the fourth installment in this impressive series.

Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377) - Le Remède de Fortune - Ensemble Guillaume de Machaut de Paris (1977) {Ades 14.077-2}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 367 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 146 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 21 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1977, 1985 Adès | 14.077-2
Classical / Medieval / Early Music

Medieval music is not my customary listening or studying turf, and I can't claim any cognoscento's insight. I'm a pure layman here, I don't know how "authentic" or musicologically satisfying those 1977 readings by Ensemble Guillaume de Machaut are, or how they compare interpretively with others. As for authenticity, other than giving the names of the instruments used, the credits and liner notes provide no information whatsoever about them. For instance, the instrument called "cromorne" is listed, but according to Wikipedia the cromorne was a 16th and 17th century instrument of the oboe family, which makes it two or three centuries too late for Machaut.

Guillaume de Machaut is the first “famous” composer in western musical history. In his time, the Middle Ages, most composers delivered their works anonymously (as part of their clerical duties), but Machaut was considered such a master of his creative art that he presented his works under his own name. He was in service of the highest monarchs, among whom Charles V, King of France. Machaut’s “Messe de Nostre Dame” is the first polyphonic Mass written, a complicated structure full of ingenious compositorial techniques. But even without the theoretical knowledge we are still spellbound by the haunting beauty and mystery of this masterpiece.

As with so many of the best early music ensembles performing today, the musical performances of the Ensemble Gilles Binchois have been inextricably linked with profound musical scholarship and with the leadership of a single powerful personality. For the Ensemble Gilles Binchois, this personality remains its founder and director, Dominique Vellard.

A French manuscript from the 14th-Century said to be compiled in Avignon, the seat of the papacy during the time, the Ivrea Codex contains several styles of music from the time making it one of the most important surviving documents from the Medieval era. This recording features harmonious vocals backed by light instrumentation. The first-rate performance of Cantica Symphonia brings an element of the sublime and divine making this one of the best releases from the Early Music genre.