Codex

The Boreas Quartett Bremen and soprano Dorothee Mields bring a little-known musical manuscript of the renaissance to life and present a series of premiere recordings. The Basevi Codex, a collection of Franco-Flemish chansons, motets and mass settings, was produced during the early sixteenth century in the famous music scribing workshop of Pierre Alamire. Faithfully following renaissance performance practice, which allowed great freedom in its musical realisations, the recorder consort and Dorothee Mields interpret selected pieces from the codex, with voice or purely instrumental, and, depending on the character of the piece, also with improvised virtuoso ornamentation. This creates a colourful picture of the music as it was sung and played at the Burgundian-Dutch court of Princess Margaret of Austria in Mechelen.

The repertoire presented here is made up exclusively of the musical glosses or Ars nova diminutions that are found in the manuscript 117 of the Biblioteca Comunale Manfrediana of Faenza, the renowned 'Codex Faenza'.

Tetraktys - Codex Chantilly, Vol. 3 (2016) {Olive–Et'cetera KTC 1917}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 313 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 171 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) ->17 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2016 Olive Music / Et'cetera | KTC 1917
Classical / Medieval / Early Music / 14th Century

This recording, the third CD of Tetraktys’ Chantilly codex project, contains the book’s two most famous works. These are the two Baude Cordier “picture songs,” and they are famous more for how they look than for how they sound. Currently bound at the start of the music section of the manuscript, one, “Belle bonne sage,” is notated on staves drawn in the shape of a heart, and the other, “Tout par compas,” is notated on staves drawn in the shape of a circle.