Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377)
Messe the Nostre Dame
Douce dame jolie
Certes, mon oeuil
De Bon Espoir/Puis que la douce rousen/Speravi
Rose, liz printemps, verdure
Dame, de qui toute ma joie vient
Riches d’amour
Chanticleer/Tim Keeler
rec. 2024, St. Ignatius Church, San Francisco, USA
Delos DE3631 [59]
Chanticleer have made a wide variety of CDs and are active and popular, especially in America. For this disc, thirteen male singers are listed, seven of whom are countertenors, and they are all pictured within. In addition to the Mass, the first known example by one named composer, they have recorded six songs from Machaut’s extraordinary La Rèmede de Fortune, an autobiography of the composer’s first experience of love – but first, the mass.
I have heard a great many performances of the Mass over forty years and have indeed sung it myself a few times – and every version adds another layer of interest. For some time, my favoured recording was that made in the late 60s by the Purcell Consort of Voices on L’Oiseau Lyre, which has never been transferred to CD. I love its vitality and sparkle.
It’s worth saying that, as Tim Keeler, the group’s director, comments briefly in the booklet in his ‘A note on performance practice’, they are not afraid of indulging in a little ornamentation both in the mass and in the secular pieces. Chanticleer also attempt French Latin pronunciation and even ornament the intonations. I think that they are using Daniel Leech-Wilkinson’s 1990 edition (OUP) where some ornamentation is indicated.
The opening Kyrie (track 1) begins strongly and at a very slow tempo; the two repeats increase the tempo slightly and the final one is sung at a quieter dynamic. The advantage of this tempo is that the sourness of some of Machaut harmonies are clearly heard. The Christe (track 2) doubles the tempo and is sung three times with extra voices for the middle rendition. The final Kyrie (track 3) reverts to the tempo of the first. This all adds variety but creates a sense of discontinuity, although there is a superb clarity to the rhythmic attack. All this takes almost eleven minutes, whereas the Ensemble Giles Binchois, for example, take just seven minutes (Brilliant Classics 94217/1).
The Gloria, like the Kyrie, begins with upward glissandi and on the two occasions when words ‘Jesu Christe’ appear (in breves) all voices ornament the words very elaborately. This is an oddity, but it makes that part of the text stand quite part from the rest, especially the hockets of the A-men. The Credo is taken at a fair speed and in the ‘ex Maria Virgine section’, notated again as breves, the middle parts ornament the long-held pitches. The long A-men is wonderfully light, getting across the hocketed rhythms, and is taken at a faster tempo than the more legato version of the A-men in the Gloria. I don’t think I need to go on into more detail, but the Sanctus, Benedictus, Agnus Dei and “Ite Missa Est” continue as before, varying the textures by contrasting the glorious sound of all the voices which alternate with the four soloists, especially so in the Agnus. Although this would not be my favoured version, there is some magnificent singing here, and the Mass is given a strong, energetic characterisation, which is exciting.
The six secular pieces begin with the famous monophonic virelai Douce dame jolie, a light-hearted dance-type form here given a colourful percussive accompaniment. We also hear the wondrously beautiful four-part Rondeau Rose, liz, printemps, verdure and the less well-known three-part Rondeau Certes mon oeuil. Although the singing is very sensitive, beautifully phrased, includes fine dynamic shadings and is sung with excellent diction, one curiosity in the former work is that when we have the repeat of the music of the A section but with the new verse, the singers drop out two of the parts. I can’t see any reason for this thinning of the texture except that it adds a certain variety. We also have the ballade, from the ‘Rèmede de Fortune’, Dame, de qui toute ma joie vient. As is normally the case, the opening lines tell us all we need to know about much of Machaut’s poetry ‘Lady, from whom comes all joy/I cannot love or cherish you too much’. Adding to the variety, we also hear the Motet De bon Espoir/ Puis que la douce rouses/Speravi, considered an early work. The disc ends reflectively on a similar note, with the two-part Ballade Riches d’amour closing on the thought that ‘I will humbly and cheerfully endure the will of such a sweet enemy’.
This, then, is a disc of some interest and considerable variety and so quite different from other, recent Machaut offerings. The recording is spacious and clear and there is also a very useful essay by Anne Stone. As a final thought, I will add that the style of performance here demonstrated by Chanticleer has grown on me and I will return to the recording in the near future.
Gary Higginson
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