Machaut

Guillaume de Machaut - Les Motets - Ensemble Musica Nova (2011) {2CD Set Aeon AECD1108 rec 2002}
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© 2002, 2011 Aeon | AECD 1108
Classical / Medieval / Early Music / 4th Century

Complete Motets of Machaut (re-release) Since the beauty, richness and diversity of such an oeuvre made it impossible to choose amongst the 23 motets by the Canon of Reims, the Musica Nova ensemble decided to embark on the adventure of a complete recording. Two years of work and research were necessary for putting this programme together, as the musicians strove for an in-depth approach to each motet in terms of both style and an instrumentation made possible by the very structure of the ensemble. This disc, which had a resounding critical success when first released, offers the first complete translation in modern French of Guillaume de Machaut's motets. An indispensable set!

The Orlando Consort performs the music of Machaut, the most significant French poet and composer of the fourteenth century. Sometimes described as ‘the last of the trouvères’ because of his dual talents as poet and musician, Machaut built on past traditions yet spearheaded a new school of lyric composition. In the field of literature, he developed several of the poetic forms and genres that dominated for generations to come. His impact on the musical life of his age was equally profound; he is closely associated with the new style of polyphonic love-song that became so popular in the fourteenth century, and today is considered the supreme representative of the Ars nova musical tradition that revolutionized composition and notation in that period.

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.

Much-awaited has been the new recording of the Machaut Messe de Nostre Dame from Bjorn Schmelzer and Graindelavoix, one of Glossas long- standing artistic family members. Following on from the trio of discs devoted to music in the spirit of the medieval master draughtsman Villard de Honnecourt the Antwerp-based ensemble currently in residence at the Fondation Royaumont in France has now turned to the first-known composer of an integral mass cycle: Guillaume de Machaut, who was a canon at Reims Cathedral in the fourteenth century.

Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377) - Le Remède de Fortune - Ensemble Guillaume de Machaut de Paris (1977) {Ades 14.077-2}
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© 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 - The Hilliard Ensemble - Motets
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 290 MB | Full Artwork: 163 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: ECM New Series # 1823 | Country/Year: Germany 2004
Genre: Classical | Style: Medieval, Sacred, Vocal

"…Countertenors David James and David Gould shape Machaut's almost Faulknerian top-voice syntax into affecting emotional statements, and even listeners new to medieval music will become ensnared in the poet's quest for the slightest glance of regard from his unattainable Lady. (…) Still, it's been a while since a major disc of Machaut motets was released (this disc contains 18 pieces, a few of them sacred), and if the Hilliard Ensemble doesn't close the book on this music, they nevertheless interpret it beautifully for our times." ~allmusicguide

Guillaume de Machaut - The Hilliard Ensemble - Motets
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 273 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: ECM # New Series 1823 | Country/Year: Germany 2004
Genre: Classical | Style: Medieval, Vocal

…Of course, nobody can coax the impact out of a dissonance like the Hilliard Ensemble. Countertenors David James and David Gould shape Machaut's almost Faulknerian top-voice syntax into affecting emotional statements, and even listeners new to medieval music will become ensnared in the poet's quest for the slightest glance of regard from his unattainable Lady…