"…The singing, as has been observed, is extremely good. The recording is also excellent, with plenty of echo but without excess resonance to cloud the crystal clarity of the individual voices. The booklet note draws attention to distant bird noises from outside the church, despite the recordings being made late in the evening and at night. One would like to think they were attracted by the music. In any event their vocal contributions are hardly detectable and need no excuse. The booklet provides full texts in the original languages – not only Latin, but mediaeval French and English as well – with excellent translations into modern English, modern French and German. The sleeve-notes were originally written in French, but the English translation is both idiomatic and informative, and give a very full and detailed list of all the sources employed. A model of how such material should be presented." ~musicweb-international
Laughter, derision, parody, jokes and satire: all 'tools for social survival' (Éric Smadja). The comic, parodic and satirical poetry presented on this CD provides, in performance, a thematic backdrop to a rich feast of medieval music. While at its heart lies a group of earthily humorous 15th-century sonnets in Paduan dialect — whose local flavour is typical of folk tradition but whose literary qualities are skilfully exploited — this collection of music, songs and courtly dances can only be defined as European (in the sense that these works are cross-cultural, rather than having anything to do with the modern political entity).
The music contained on this recording ranges from the earliest known - regrettably unflattering - mention of Danes in music in the 9th century to Danish songs from the 15th century. It includes 13th century Parisian polyphony found in a remarkable Danish source and Danish versions of songs from the international repertory and thus illustrates both a Danish contribution to European music and the musical contacts that Denmark enjoyed with the rest of Europe in the Middle Ages.
The selection of the title "The Sound of Medieval Flute" is not fortuitous and aims to intrigue those listeners who know that no medieval transverse flute finds have been reported so far. What kind of transverse flutes were played in medieval Europe and what they sounded like can only be intuited by piecing together a kaleidoscope of information preserved in the graphic arts, in literary and poetic works touching on the performance practice of medieval instrumental music , in folk music traditions using similar instruments and there is no hiding that anyway adding a certain measure of personal imagination to the mix.
DuFay Collective are, in a word, brilliant, basically the Pink Martini of the music of the period. Their music never fails to transport you back in time. However, for the most past, medieval music isn't something you plug into the CD player on long drives between cities. This album is an exception. The focus is on medieval dance music of France, England and Italy, and the pieces are light-hearted and "catchy" enough to keep me entertained on replay for hours at a time.
This final LOiseau-Lyre set presents some of the most significant Medieval & Renaissance albums recorded by one of the most authoritative Early Music labels.
The Medieval Ensemble of London was active in the late 1970s and early 80s and directed by Peter & Timothy Davies. They were a clear successor to David Munrow in this area, and most of the performers involved on their albums continue to be major parts of the EM mainstream. Albums such as the complete Dufay & Ockeghem songs were landmarks in their day. Twenty-five years after it was first released, this magnificent recording of 15th-century secular music has finally become available once again. Listening to it today, one wonders why Decca took so long to reissue it.