The Spirits of England and France - 3
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Gilles de Bins dit Binchois, Guillaume de Machaut, (Richard de Bellengues) Cardot, Byttering, Gilet Velut, Anonymous, Johannes de Lymburgia, John Dunstable, Johannes Legrant, Pierre Fontaine, Leonel Power
Label: Hyperion
Magazine Review Date: 1/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 67
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CDA66783
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Abide, I hope it is the best |
Anonymous, Composer
Anonymous, Composer Christopher Page, Conductor Gothic Voices |
Exultavit cor in Domino |
Anonymous, Composer
Anonymous, Composer Christopher Page, Conductor Gothic Voices |
Qui veut mesdire si mesdie |
Gilles de Bins dit Binchois, Composer
Christopher Page, Conductor Gilles de Bins dit Binchois, Composer Gothic Voices |
Amoureux suy et me vient toute joye |
Gilles de Bins dit Binchois, Composer
Christopher Page, Conductor Gilles de Bins dit Binchois, Composer Gothic Voices |
Adieu mon amoureuse joye |
Gilles de Bins dit Binchois, Composer
Christopher Page, Conductor Gilles de Bins dit Binchois, Composer Gothic Voices |
Ay douloureux disant helas |
Gilles de Bins dit Binchois, Composer
Christopher Page, Conductor Gilles de Bins dit Binchois, Composer Gothic Voices |
Magnificat secundi toni |
Gilles de Bins dit Binchois, Composer
Christopher Page, Conductor Gilles de Bins dit Binchois, Composer Gothic Voices |
Se la belle n'a le voloir |
Gilles de Bins dit Binchois, Composer
Christopher Page, Conductor Gilles de Bins dit Binchois, Composer Gothic Voices |
En Katerina solennia/Virginalis contio/Sponsus ama |
Byttering, Composer
Byttering, Composer Christopher Page, Conductor Gothic Voices |
Pour une fois et pour toute |
(Richard de Bellengues) Cardot, Composer
(Richard de Bellengues) Cardot, Composer Christopher Page, Conductor Gothic Voices |
Beata Dei genitrix |
John Dunstable, Composer
Christopher Page, Conductor Gothic Voices John Dunstable, Composer |
J'ayme bien celui |
Pierre Fontaine, Composer
Christopher Page, Conductor Gothic Voices Pierre Fontaine, Composer |
Descendi in ortum meum |
Johannes de Lymburgia, Composer
Christopher Page, Conductor Gothic Voices Johannes de Lymburgia, Composer |
Se liesse |
Johannes Legrant, Composer
Christopher Page, Conductor Gothic Voices Johannes Legrant, Composer |
Il m'est avis qu'il n'est |
Guillaume de Machaut, Composer
Christopher Page, Conductor Gothic Voices Guillaume de Machaut, Composer |
Gloria |
Leonel Power, Composer
Christopher Page, Conductor Gothic Voices Leonel Power, Composer |
Lassiés ester vostres chans de liesse |
Gilet Velut, Composer
Christopher Page, Conductor Gilet Velut, Composer Gothic Voices |
(Un) Petit oyselet chantant |
Gilet Velut, Composer
Christopher Page, Conductor Gilet Velut, Composer Gothic Voices |
Author: Fabrice Fitch
The songs of Binchois are relatively late territory for Gothic Voices. It has been ten years or so – in “The Castle of Fair Welcome” (Hyperion, 11/86), to be exact – since they covered this repertoire in any depth (who can forget the chilly pathos of Dueil angoisseus?), and comparison with the new disc is instructive. Over the years there have been more, and deeper, men’s voices; the hard-edged, polished chrome patina has perhaps mellowed and burnished with time. Perhaps, too, the almost obsessive concern with clarity and intonation has been allowed to ease a little, in favour of a heightened sensitivity to the affective projection of both text and music.
Perhaps, but only just. The hard edge creeps back in when the programme strays from Binchois back on to earlier repertory, such as Power’s marvellous (and much-recorded) five-voice Gloria – here portrayed as an exercise in risk-taking for composer and singers alike. Its brashness, though glorious to listen to, leads to an inevitable query, for there are not one but two programmes here. Binchois’s songs, characterized by their restraint and understatement, seem uneasy in the company of so many of his exuberant contemporaries and immediate predecessors (and the not-so-immediate – what is Machaut doing here?). The singers do their utmost to reflect the difference in tone, but that only makes the discrepancy more telling. This is a pity, for the Binchois pieces are finely pitched, and deserved to have more space to themselves – more space also for the singers to acclimatize themselves to Binchois’s languorous melancholy. Page knows a show-stopper when he hears one, and the haunted
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