The Dufay Collective

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.

Since its formation in 1987 the Dufay Collective has specialised in colourful, themed recordings – often with a touch of the nudge-nudge, wink-wink about them (Johnny, Cock Thy Beaver; Miri It Is, etc). So 13th-century Paris, with its bawdy mix of persons of all kinds, is natural ground for this group. But not everything is treated as slapstick: the songs by Adam de la Halle and some other pieces are touchingly rendered by a delightful trio of male voices in the latest scholarly fashion (without instruments), and this seems right even in the famous ‘On parole’, a motet with street cries woven in: this work is really an academic parody of the popular style. With the ‘minstrel’ dances and song arrangements we are led into a kind of musical toyshop where bagpipes and many other instruments abound.

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.

Jordi Savall & Hesperion XXI - Estampies & Danses Royales: Le Manuscrit du Roi ca.1270-1320 (2008) {Alia Vox AVSA 9857}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 416 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 173 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 192 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2008 Alia Vox | AVSA 9857
Classical / Medieval

Vigorous and colourful medieval dances revealed by Jordi Savall! The Estampie is a medieval dance consisting of four to seven sections, called puncta, each of which is repeated (in the form aa, bb, cc, etc…).The more widely accepted etymology relates it to stamper, to stamp the feet. Illuminations and paintings from the period seem to indicate that the estampie involves fairly vigorous hopping. The earliest reported example of this musical form is the song "Kalenda Maya" (track 3), supposedly written by the troubadour Raimbaut de Vaqueiras (1180-1207) to the melody of an estampida played by French jongleurs. In this irresistible album, Jordi Savall explores a Royal manuscript from the French National Library.

SOMM Recordings announces the exciting label debut of Voice with Hildegard Portraits, marking the tenth anniversary of the canonisation of the 12th-century spiritual leader, theologian, mystic, scientist and composer, St. Hildegard of Bingen.