Hilliard Ensemble - Guillaume de Machaut: Motets
List Price:
Our Price: $14.99
You Save: $2.99 (17%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $9.94 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Artist: Hilliard EnsembleEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2004-03-30
Music Label: Ecm Records
Soundtracks:
- De Soupirant Cuer, M2
- Fine Amour, Qui Me Vint Navrer, M3
- Puis Que La Douce Rousee, M4
- Qui Plus Aimme, M5
- Lasse! Je Sui En Aventure, M7
- Ha! Fortune, M8
- O Livoris Feritas, M9
- Helas! Ou Sera Pris Confors, M10
- Fins Cuers Dous, M11
- Eins Que Ma Dame D'Onnour, M13
- Faus Samblant M'A Deceu, M15
- Se J'Aim Mon Loyal Ami, M16
- Bone Pastor, M18
- Diligenter Inquiramus, M19
- Biaute Paree De Valour, M20
- Veni Creator Spiritus, M21
- Plange, Regni Respublica, M22
- Inviolata Genitrix, M23
Music reviews of Guillaume de Machaut: Motets
Music Review: Very pretty, but is it Machaut?
Rating: 4 Stars
The Hilliard Ensemble seems to want to treat these secular Machaut motets, whose lyrics all involve courtly love themes, as sacred music.
A purely vocal performance of this material is, of course, as justifiable as any other performance practice we can surmise for this fourteenth century music. The Hilliards appear to treat some of the lines as vocal drones, and emphasize a single line above it, treating Machaut much as you would expect to treat a discant over a piece of chant in the Notre-Dame school organum. This tends to obscure what made Machaut an innovative and original composer. Machaut was one of the first composers to write -complex- polyphony, and this practice seems to treat some of Machaut's lines as being of secondary interest.
The heavy reverb in the recording, which has been noted below, adds a reverent tone. This, too, seems a bit off: it makes the music sound remote and unearthly, as if sung in the crypt of a stone church. Even given that Machaut was a churchman attached to the cathedral at Rheims, an ecclesiastical performance of this courtly love material seems somewhat unlikely.
That said, it is very pleasant to listen to. But for those who want a purely vocal performance of Machaut's secular motets, recordings such as that by Summerly's Oxford Camerata of -Le Voir Dit- make it somewhat clearer what is going on in Machaut's music.
Description of Guillaume de Machaut: Motets
Celebrating their 30th anniversary, the Hilliard Ensemble turns to the Motets of Machaut, 18 exquisitely wrought works that explore a wide range of human emotions within the context of a timeless style, as piercing today as it must have been to 14th Century Parisians. The texts range from darker variations of courtly romances to the vagaries of love and fortune, reflections on envy, deceit, morality, death, and salvation. Machaut clothes these in long, flowing musical lines, often florid ones whose complex patterns reveal bold harmonic twists and turns, an exhilarating combination of austerity and rich complexity. The Hilliard Ensemble--here five well-tuned voices, two countertenors, two tenors, and baritone--sing with an intensity often missing from more formalistic performances of medieval music, though never violating stylistic strictures. Perhaps these short masterpieces best retain their freshness when heard in chunks of three or four, but there's no question this is an essential acquisition for lovers of early music. Completing the recommendation, the engineers beautifully capture the glow of the church acoustic. --Dan DavisGeneral CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in General CDs
Puccini - La Boheme (The Metropolitan Opera HD Live Series)Release date: 2008-09-16; DVD
Best price: $13.67
Price in other shops:
Songs of Joy & Peace Deluxe VersionRelease date: 2008-10-14; Music CD
Best price: $13.50
Price in other shops:
Stephen Sondheim - The Story So Far..Release date: 2008-09-30; Music CD
Best price: $34.13
Price in other shops:
Chant: Music For The SoulRelease date: 2008-07-01; Music CD
Best price: $9.66
Price in other shops:
Andrea Bocelli - The Best of Andrea Bocelli: VivereBOCELLI,ANDREA; Release date: 2007-10-30; Music CD
Best price: $6.98
Price in other shops:
Adams: Doctor AtomicRelease date: 2008-09-30; DVD
Best price: $29.88
Price in other shops:
Baby Einstein - Baby Mozart - Music Festivalby Disney
BABY EINSTEIN; Release date: 2002-03-12; Published: 2004; DVD
Best price: $8.88
Price in other shops:
Andre Rieu: Live in ViennaRelease date: 2008-09-30; DVD
Best price: $12.38
Price in other shops:
Vivaldi: The Four SeasonsRelease date: 2008-09-02; Music CD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Songs of Joy & PeaceRelease date: 2008-10-14; Music CD
Best price: $9.98
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
Dufay: ChansonsRelease date: 1996-05-21; Music CD
Best price: $5.21
Price in other shops:
Machaut: La Messe de Nostre Dame; Songs from Le Voir DitRelease date: 1996-12-17; Music CD
Best price: $5.97
Price in other shops:
Dufay: Missa L'homme arm?; Supremum est mortalibus bonumRelease date: 1995-06-27; Music CD
Best price: $4.33
Price in other shops:
Machaut: ChansonsRelease date: 2007-11-13; Music CD
Best price: $7.35
Price in other shops:
The Mirror of Narcissus - Secular Songs by Guillaume de MachautRelease date: 1993-11-11; Music CD
Best price: $15.29
Price in other shops:
Music for ComplineRelease date: 2007-01-16; Music CD
Best price: $11.87
Price in other shops:
In Paradisum: Music of Victoria and PalestrinaRelease date: 2000-04-25; Music CD
Best price: $11.88
Price in other shops:
Josquin Desprez: Motets & ChansonsRelease date: 1997-01-21; Music CD
Best price: $6.60
Price in other shops:
Perotin / The Hilliard EnsembleRelease date: 2000-04-18; Music CD
Best price: $11.44
Price in other shops:
Machaut: Messe de Notre Dame / The Hilliard EnsembleRelease date: 1993-11-16; Music CD
Best price: $13.68
Price in other shops: