Search - Valentin Bakfark, Claudin de Sermisy, Jacques Arcadelt :: The Voice of Bakfark

Finally !! - Lute intabulations paired with the Choral versi

Duncan T. Campbell | Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio USA | 07/10/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After over 30 years (and 1000's of hours) of listening to serious Medieval & Renaissance Choral music - and Renaissance Lute music, I've finally had the pleasure of having an intelligent and artful rendering of both the Lute versions of what were famous serious choral works in their day, and the choral versions directly following.

To me, Valentin Bakfark has always been the Lutenist-Composer who most exemplified the highest musical form of his time, which was choral polyphony. His works have the most free-flowing Renaissance counterpoint of any Lute composer I've heard. Many of the Renaissance Lutenist-Composers that are the most famous today wrote mainly what can be charitably be described as quaint parlor dances.

Bakfark wrote serious pieces - on a 6-course Lute (his tablature has only 6 lines) he wrote counterpoint for as many as 5 parts - which is almost impossible.

Performing Lutenist Istvan Gyori does a very good job managing the polyphony. I've heard many Lutenists struggle awfully trying to play Bakfark, but Gyori seems to glide through the difficult passages. The choir, Voces Aequales, does a very good job singing in the Renaissance style - very smooth, and well blended.

A must for anyone who loves serious Renaissance choral music, and/or anyone who loves the sound of the Lute."