Guillaume Dufay Antonio Vivaldi Michael Posch - Dufay Chansons (17 tracks) +Album Reviews

Lovely

J. P. Johnson | Ewing, NJ United States | 12/28/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This lovely CD contains 9 instrumental pieces and 8 sung pieces, almost evenly alternating. That balance and variety seems to me one of the best features of the disc. The liner notes are good and I enjoyed reading the brief biographies of the members of Ensemble Unicorn. For the chansons I was pleased to be given both the original French text and an accompanying English translation. The recording was done in Evangelische Kirche A.B., Vienna, and the acoustics there complement Dufay's compositions very well. If all that you know of Dufay are his masses, then this CD is an excellent next addition. But even if you are not familiar with Dufay, you will enjoy this broadly appealing disc."

The Unicorn Ensemble "get medieval" on Dufay

Eddie Konczal | 02/17/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Unicorn Ensemble's collection of Guillaume Dufay's "Chansons" is a fine recording, with excellent performances using period instruments that vividly evoke the spirit of the Middle Ages. My main reservation about "Chansons" is that it might give you the wrong impression about Dufay, one of the most forward-looking composers of the 15th century. The Unicorn Ensemble's instrumental textures are a joy to listen to, but they tend to obscure Dufay's polyphonic innovations. To be sure, Dufay's greatest advances came in the realm of sacred music, with his chansons largely governed by the "formes fixes" that held sway over early Renaissance secular music. But the ingenious Dufay found ways to bend the rigid song structures to his will.

Take 'Se la face ay pale' for example, a through-composed chanson in which Dufay employs voice crossings and close imitation to achieve a sophisticated polyphonic tapestry. The Unicorn Ensemble performs this chanson instrumentally (as they do with about half the songs in this collection). Their interpretation is textured and inspired, but obscures the effect of Dufay's polyphony. Another chanson performed instrumentally is "Resveilliés vous et faites chiere lye," written for the 1423 wedding of Carlo Malatesta and Vittoria Colonna. In its original version, Dufay highlighted the groom's name with a homophonic treatment of the line "Charle, gentil." Without voices, the effect is lost.

The overall effect of "Chansons" is to cast Dufay's music as essentially Medieval; many of these arrangements wouldn't sound out of place on Unicorn Ensemble's "Codex Faenza," featuring music written by composers who lived a century before Dufay. Dufay's secular music is undoubtedly rooted in medieval sensibilities, but his approach to vocal polyphony classes him as early Renaissance. Fans of Medieval instrumental music will treasure "Chansons," and rightly so. But those interested in the music of Dufay should also seek out one of his Masses, such as "Missa L'homme arme" (also on Naxos) or (if you can find it) "Missa Se la face ay pale" (based on the chanson found here). One should hear Dufay's music as vocal polyphony to truly experience the glorious achievements of this early Renaissance master."

Good, very good for a budget release

Eddie Konczal | 09/16/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It is difficult to fault Naxos when they produce full-price quality recordings like this CD at less than half the price of other labels. The young Austrian counter tenor Bernhard Landauer gives polished performances of 8 Dufay chansons, and the five members of Unicorn add variety to the program by preceding each chanson with lively instrumental pieces. 62'37" playing time, useful notes and full texts and translations. A bargain."

Dufay: Chansons ~ Guillaume Dufay

Bjorn Viberg | European Union | 03/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Many people have this idea that the middle-ages was a time with little art and refinement. This is not true at all and Dufay shows with his compositions that there was plenty of sharp wits. The music does sound very different from what we now consider to be classical music. However, one should not be fooled by this and the music is very complex in its simplicity. The vocals are not easy at all to sing right and each instrument plays an integral part in his many and varied compositions. The lyrics are very well written and one can not accuse him of being less then civilized and are filled with emotions that were just as valid then as they are now."

1950s-inspired "merrie" make-believe

Maddy Evil | London, UK | 02/25/2010

(1 out of 5 stars)

"Question: What is the difference between this 1995 recording of Dufay chansons by Ensemble Unicorn and the orchestrated, sentimentalised and occasionally rumbustious interpretations of yore (by groups such as Pro Musica Antiqua [1950], the Saturday Consort [c.1959] and New York Pro Musica [1964])...?

Answer: about 3-4 decades (give or take).

Yet whilst the popular image of a "merrie" Middle Ages has changed little since the 1950s - that golden age of Hollywood "medieval" classics, such as 'Prince Valiant' (1954) and 'The Black Shield of Falworth' (1954) - unfortunately, our knowledge of this repertoire most certainly has. Suffice to say that the sound world presented on this recording is hopelessly out of touch with the last 30 years of musicological research (Craig Wright, David Fallows, Christopher Page, Dennis Slavin, etc...), which has convincingly shown that 15th-century song was actually envisaged for unaccompanied voices. On those rare occasions where instruments possibly participated, this was almost certainly just 1 harp and/or 1 lute, and perhaps, at a push, a vielle (medieval fiddle): the case for other instruments taking part in this repertoire, frankly, ranges from the tenuous to the non-existent, to say nothing of Unicorn's perennial "exotic" additions to the "medieval" mix - the "keyed fiddle"/nyckelharpa (a Nordic folk instrument) and the 'ud (Arabic lute). Similarly, the way instruments themselves are used is equally problematic, from the playing (rather than vocalising) of textless melismas in the cantus part (e.g. tracks 11, 13 and 15), to the addition of Ganassi-style ornaments (i.e. from 1535, as in track 9), occasional octave doubling of the contratenor (e.g. track 9), and lastly, the addition of atmospheric 'composed' introductions/sections (e.g. tracks 3, 5 and 17). If this were not enough (!!), the form of certain pieces has been drastically refashioned - 'Belle, que vous ay je mesfait' is a prime example (it is a rondeau, therefore its form should actually be ABAAABAB, not ABABAB as here) - whilst elsewhere, the use/lack of ficta demonstrably contradicts 15th-century writings on rules of harmony and counterpoint (e.g. tracks 9 and 15).

All in all, if you're into "olde worlde" fantasy (and perhaps dressing up in "medieval" clothes), this CD could well be for you...(never mind if it has about as much to do with 15th-century song as Ambrose Field: Being Dufay [ECM, 2009]).

Alternatively, for a more faithful - and certainly more aesthetic - representation of this repertoire, try:

1. Blue Heron Renaissance Choir's recent CD entitled Guillaume Du Fay: Motets, Hymns, Chansons, Sanctus Papale (BHCD 1001), which includes 7 chansons (1 vielle is added to a few of them; the rest are performed "a cappella")

2. Any of the following CDs by Gothic Voices ("a cappella" performances with occasional use of harp/lute), recently reissued at budget price and featuring a broad range of 15th-century secular music (including works by Dufay) - The Castle of Fair Welcome (Helios 55274); The Medieval Romantics: French Songs & Motets (1340-1440) (Helios 55293); The Garden of Zephirus (Helios 55289)

"

Search - Guillaume Dufay, Antonio Vivaldi, Michael Posch :: Dufay: Chansons

CD Details

Similar CDs

CD Reviews