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Críticas de discos |
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| Guillaume Dufay, Mass for St Anthony
Abbot |
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BBC Music Magazine 2005 |
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The Times 2005 |
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The Sunday Times 2005 |
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The Independent 2005 |
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International Record Review 2005 |
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| Guillaume Dufay, Missa Puisque je
vis |
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Early Music Review 2003 |
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International Record Review 2003 |
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| Antoine Busnois, Missa L'homme
armé |
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Gramophone 2002 (Fabrice Fitch) |
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Gramophone 2002 (Simon Heighes) |
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| Josquin des Pres and his contemporaries
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BBC Music Magazine 2001 |
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| A Marriage of England and Burgundy |
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Daily Telegraph, November 2000 |
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International Record Review, December 2000 |
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| Guillaume Dufay, Music for St James
the Greater |
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Gramophone Awards, 1999 |
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Critics Choice, December 1998 |
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Gramophone, July 1998 |
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| Guillaume Dufay, Music for
St Anthony of Padua |
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Repertoire, January 1997 |
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Guillaume Dufay,
Mass for St Anthony Abbot
BBC Music Magazine 2005
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| "these singers
are superbly experienced in this kind of repertoire, and they
thrill us with the supple lines of the Alleluia, the
vigour of the Credo and the swirling counterpoint of
the Sanctus [...] These singers are at their best, though,
in the Binchois Agnus - sustaining the endless phrases
with great continuity and musical sense". |
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Guillaume Dufay,
Mass for St Anthony Abbot
The Times 2005 |
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"This is music
of spellbinding beauty, and Kirkman's team deliver it superbly".
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Guillaume
Dufay, Mass for St Anthony Abbot
The Sunday Times 2005 |
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| "The blend is
immaculate, the sound refined, the impetus well sustained. They
relish the play of lines. And they sound devout". |
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Guillaume
Dufay, Mass for St Anthony Abbot
The Independent 2005 |
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| "This is exquisite,
intricate music, and the Binchois Consort are ideal interpreters
of its subtleties - and they're even more persuasive in the
motets and Mass movements by their namesake". |
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Guillaume
Dufay, Mass for St Anthony Abbot
International Record Review 2005 |
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| "The
Binchois Consort have by now established themselves as pre-eminent
interpreters of Dufay's sacred music. Andrew Kirkman has an
unfailing touch in matters of tempo, rhythm and vocal balance.
The all-male voices are svelte, polished and immaculately in
tune. The Consort's beautifully burnished tone is well
served by the sympathetic acoustic of All Saints Church, Tooting,
faithfully captured by Hyperion's engineers. Add to these an
unusually expansive and informative set of booklet essays by
Philip Weller and the whole package is irresistible". |
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Guillaume Dufay,
Missa Puisque je vis
Early Music Review 2003 |
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| "As ever with
this ensemble the singing is muscular and clean-cut, with Kirkman's
direction bringing out every detail." |
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Guillaume Dufay,
Missa Puisque je vis
International Record Review 2003 |
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| "Formed in 1995
The Binchois Consort have clocked up just six recordings, all
devoted to the sophisticated world of fifteenth-century sacred
polyphony. Their efforts have won widespread
critical acclaim and their small but ground-breaking discography
is now beginning to look like one of the most valuablejewels
in Hyperion's already fairly glittery crown. In the hands
of the Binchois Consort this extraordinarily personal and deeply
internal music resonates down the centuries with immense power". |
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Antoine Busnois,
Missa L'homme armé
Busnois, Domarto, Pullois
Fabrice Fitch
Gramophone 2002 |
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"Few works embody
the spirit of an age so eloquently as the L'homme arme Mass
of Antoine Busnois. Simultaneously outgoing and hieratic, it
encompasses all the expressive possibilities of its time and
by juxtaposing them in all sorts of surprising ways pushes them
further still. Teeming with incident, it encourages the listener
from the off, but retains throughout a classical balance and
poise. No other Mass of the mid-15th century survives in as
many sources and no other setting of the famous tune was as
influential.
Busnois' masterpiece has become one of the most discussed pieces
in 'early music'. This is largely due to Pro Cantione Antiqua's
magnificent recording, made in 1976 (unfortunately not presently
available), which anticipated most scholarly evaluations. Although
PCA's account has aged remarkably well, the Binchois Consort
improves on the older in several ways. PCA used a chamber organ
for colla parte voice-doubling, and in the Agnus Dei they added
a sackbut to reinforce the cantus firmus's descent into the
bass's lowest reaches. This imparted an attractive sheen to
the sound-image, but tended at times to overload the texture
and obscure certain details (notably when the top line dipped
into the middle of the texture). Kirkman's
a cappella approach resolves these problems, but with no loss
of brilliance or sonic distinctive-ness. Some courageously close
miking captures the slightly rough-edged grain of these voices;
by allowing an element of risk into these performances, the
singers (assisted by Hyperion's production team) exhilarating
replicate the balance of finely wrought detail and clarity of
design that characterises the work itself.
As so often in this repertory, the choice of tempo is paramount
in determining the success of an interpretation. Bruno Turner
understood this equally well, but the Agnus III Kirkman slows
the basic tactus down just a notch: this dramatise one of the
Mass's most sublime moments, when the inverted cantus firmus
is momentarily exposed, the basses holding a low F for several
seconds with a lone, static voice for company. One of the Mass's
high-points, it ranks among the supreme inspirations of the
15th century. This example will stand for detail; to hear the
ensemble's (and Busnois') sense of pacing at its best, try the
second part of the Credo, which resonated with a compelling
sense of calm and mystery. The Binchois Consort has never sounded
more assured.
I mentioned earlier the wealth of unrecorded polyphony from
this period. Kirkman is always keen to introduce new works to
the repertory, so its entirely fitting that he should couple
Busnois with a composer virtually unknown today, but who appears
to have had a formative influence on him. Until now, Domarto
has been chiefly remembered as the bete noire of the theorist
Johannes Tinctoris, who subjected him to scathing criticism;
but his reasons for doing so have little to do with sound of
Domarto's music, and it is good to hear this at last. As Kirkman
says, his Mass Spiritus almus is a gentler, less assertive
work than Busnois's, and it yields its beauties less readily.
But beauties there undoubtedly are, and from a technical standpoint
Domarto's Mass is a perfect foil for its more extravagant counterpart.
It allows the Binchois Consort to display a more contemplative
side.
The remaining motets are nicely varied, too. Anima mea liquifacta
est is surprisingly rhapsodic by Busnois' standards. Gaude
celestis domina has only recently been identified as his
work, but his stamp is unmistakable. Finally, Pullois' Flos
de spina is given a similarly involving rendition. This
is musicianship of a very high order, transcending specialisms". |
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Antoine Busnois,
Missa L'homme armé
A Mass of peace from a man of violence
Simon Heighes
Gramophone 2002 |
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"The
Binchois consort are the quintessence of medieval restraint
and discipline. Formed in 1995, they have issued just five recordings
in their seven years together, all devoted to the sophisticated
world of 15th century polyphony. Their efforts have won widespread
acclaim and Gramophone's own Early Music Award in 1999
for Dufay's Music for St James the Greater (Hyperion,
7/98).
But success has not gone to their heads.
The consort remain strictly perennial, blooming once a year
with a series of summer concerts and a recording. It's a pattern
largely determined by geography. While the singers are largely
based in the UK, the director, Andrew Kirkman, now lives in
New Jersey.
'I return to England in the summer, we have some rehearsals
and I try to base a recording around a concert series. So we'll
prepare the music for a concert and air it live, learn some
lessons and then go into the church we use as a recording studio
a week or so later'.
Kirkman uses a pool of eight to ten singers,
all of whom work with other choirs throughout much of the year.
But he is adamant that as a group the Binchois Consort have
their own distinctive sound. He puts this down to the
way he shapes the music. 'I pick pieces that I feel I can give
a convincing interpretation of. We don't really have much sense
of how people performed this music at the time, and certainly
not the nuances of medieval performance - the shaping and the
phrasing. So we have to recreate this. I try to do it in a way
that makes compelling sense to a musician today, after all these
performances are for us in the hear and now. This is what I
call 'informed musician-ship'; my work on this music as a scholar
forms a kind of sediment upon which I try to build something
more spontaneous'.
A leading light in 15th century - studies, Kirkman's performances
glint with cutting-edge scholarship. 'At conferences I often
mention that if anyone has come across any pieces which they
think are really deserving they should send them to me' I like
to be a conduit for other people's research and at the same
time bring the listening public something rare and exciting'.
The Binchois Consort's latest recording is based around two
mid-15th-century masses: Antoine Busnois's seldom-heard Missa
L'homme arme, and the first recording of a work that helped
shape it - the Missa Spiritus almus by the shadowy Petrus
Domarto.
Busnois Missa L'homme arme was one the most widely admired
and emulated works of the 15th century, and possibly the earliest
mass composed on the famous tune 'beware the armed man'. Exceptionally
for a composer of the period, Busnois's music reveals a sense
of self and a desire for personal expression.
'He seems to have been quite a volatile character', says Kirkman.
He actually beat up a priest once, and then arranged for him
to be done over again on five separate occasions 'until his
blood flowed'. And he was convicted of celebrating Mass while
excommunicated as a result of this violence among the clergy
was surprisingly common during the middle ages, but Kirkman
still feels that this incident points to someone with a very
strong personality who was certainly not shy of expressing himself.
'There's a powerful, emotional voice shouting out from the music,
but a controlled one as well; it's not a wayward voice, it's
harnessed and used in a very precise, intellectual way'.
The signs are everywhere. At the end of the Credo there
is an increase in rhythmic complexity to the point where there
are different metres in each part all going on simultaneously.
'Then suddenly everything breaks loose', Kirkman enthuses, 'the
bubble bursts and the singers fly off in different directions
before they get gathered up again at the end. It all happens
very quickly, so it's very exhilarating.'
Extravagant and emotional gestures like this may seem at odds
with our preconceptions about the medieval sound world, but
we are listening to this music today with secular ears and an
aesthetic sensibility. Kirkman thinks we should try putting
ourselves in 15th century shoes.
'It was a matter of life and death to them. The Mass was the
central article of faith and everyone believed that attendance
was an essential part of building up "grace" so that
one wouldn't suffer too much purgatory after death'. In that
light, Busnois's Missa L'homme arme takes on a whole
new meaning - maybe, in a different but no less dangerous age,
we should all invest, for the sake of our eternal souls, in
a copy. |
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Josquin des Pres
and his contemporaries
BBC Music Magazine 2001 |
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| "This fascinating
and compelling CD gives us a rare chance to explore genuine
compositions by Josquin alongside several of disputed authorship". |
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A
Marriage of England and Burgundy
Elizabeth Roche
Daily Telegraph, November 2000 |
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"Royal weddings
of the 15th century involved extravagant musical celebrations,
and the 1468 marriage of Edward IV's sister Margaret of York
and Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy was more extravagant than
most. These pieces, from a manuscript embracing both English
and Burgundian styles were probably performed as part of the
festivities.
England is represented by the Masses - one of them certainly,
and one of them possibly by Walter Frye. These are characterised
by brisk word setting, rather angular melodic lines, and vigorous,
heavy syncopated rhythms that give the music a strong sense
of forward movement. On the Burgundian side, the motets by and
attributed to Busnois tend to have longer, more flowing lines,
less strongly marked rythms and more complex moving texture.
Thanks to the six excellent male voices,
who take a special delight in Frye'srhythmic exuberance, this
is a particularly attractive issue. It is a perfect example
of that all-too-rare high-quality musicianship which such fine
but little-known early music needs if it is to win the wider
appreciation it deserves". |
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A
Marriage of England and Burgundy
Alison Bullock
International Record Review, December 2000 |
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"This is the second
recording in a year to contain music from the manuscript known
as 'Brussels 5557' (the first was from The Clerks' Group on
Signum). The manuscript is one of the most important sources
of music from the fifteenth century, but sadly the music is
rarely heard. However, whether by design or by chance, the repertory
on the two discs does not overlap at all; so now, all at once,
we have good recordings of four very significant Masses and
some important ancillary works as well.
And this is certainly a very fine disc. The music is always
allowed to flow - it is easy for this repertory to sound static,
especially the discant-style works - but here, in the Anonymous
(?Frye) Missa Sine nomine the singers achieve a lovely
feeling of movement. In the more mentally challenging Busnois
pieces we, as listeners, are given some idea of the originality
of the writing while still feeling that the performers know
their way around the music. There is some fantastically agile
singing here: one only has to listen to the tenor singing in
Regina coeli II, where the range is almost as high as
that of the uppermost (alto) voice, or to hear the ensemble
work in the motet Incomprehensibilia firme to appreciate
the quality of this performance.
One of the benefits of academically informed
recordings is that one gets to hear music that one might not
ever otherwise encounter. The Brussels manuscript provides
a good core of works, but it is also good to hear the double-texted
motets on this disc, included because they have been attributed
by modern scholars to Busnois. Both are wonderful works; and
if the first does not sound very much like Busnois it is nonetheless
a gorgeous piece, and one that I am very glad to have heard.
Another benefit of scholarly recordings is that one can expect
well-written and enlightening insert notes, and this booklet
is no exception, with seven pages of notes packed with information
(next stop: disc notes with bibliographies!). Another
first-rate disc, then from Andrew Kirkman: this is a must for
the 'early music' audience". |
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Guillaume
Dufay, Music for St James the Greater
Tess Knighton
Gramophone Awards, 1999 (Early Music category) |
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| "The Binchois
Consort's second recording of early works by Dufay is even better
than the first. The highlight of the disc is another of Dufay's
pioneering Mass cycles, the for St James the Greater. The Binchois
Consort gives a totally convincing performance of its disparate
sections, which include the polyphonic settings of the Propers,
preserved - unusually for the period - in one of the sources
for the Mass. The accuracy in intonation
(both in pitch and unanimity of vowel sound) makes for a harmonic-enriched
vibrancy, well captured on the closely miked recording by Hyperion,
and the refined balancing of the four voice parts (AATT) brings
out Dufay's inventive - often experimental - vocal writing to
the full. As David Fallows pointed out, the tempos seem just
right: nothing feels rushed, even where the flow of notes
and rate of harmonic change - one of the distinctive features
of Dufay's music - are rapid. And there is space for expressive
singing in response to the text, not only at the more obvious
moments such as 'ex virgine Maria' in the Credo
(which elicits some strikingly sustained singing), but also,
more unexpectedly, in, for example, the 'Amen' of that
section. The St James motets included on the CD offer further
contrast to the range of styles encountered in the Mass. For
whatever occasions these works were originally composed, those
present must have been struck by their originality, and, if
they were performed with anything like the richness of sonority
and verve of The Binchois Consort, by the sheer technical bravura
of a composer still at the start of his career. So utterly compelling
is this recording that I can imagine it acquiring cult status,
even without the saxophone; it is certainly an eminently worthy
winner". |
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Guillaume
Dufay, Music for St James the Greater
David Fallows
Critics Choice, December 1998 |
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| "Obviously
pride of place goes to Dufay's Missa Sancti Jacobi and
other early works, superbly performed by the Binchois Consort
under Andrew Kirkman: all reviewers agreed that it sets new
standards in the lucid presentation of this music; and
the Mass itself, hitherto available only on a very old (if excellent)
recording, has a place in any collection of the key music of
the fifteenth century". |
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Guillaume
Dufay, Music for St James the Greater
David Fallows
Gramophone, July 1998 |
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"This
is Dufay as I have always wanted to hear him. In what is only
their second CD (the first was on Hyperion 6/96), The Binchois
Consort show absolute mastery of Dufay's difficult early style,
with immaculate balance, wonderfully free phrasing, and crystalline
clarity. Moreover in the Missa S Jacobi Andrew Kirkman
shows an uncanny ability to set the perfect tempo every time,
so that the music emerges with its full force.
The Missa S Jacobi is and odd but supremely important
work. It is one of two early Dufay Mass cycles that have rarely
been recorded, partly because they are less obviously part of
a grand tradition than his later four-voice cantus firmus
Masses. And this one is particularly difficult because its many
different textures and styles present a severe challenge if
it is not to seem fragmented and incoherent. Here it stands
as a glorious masterpiece, its nine movements spanning over
40 minutes, with the various styles acting as necessary contrast
and culminating in the famous Communion that Heinrich Besseler
many years ago argued was the earliest example of fauxbourdon
writing.
Strangely, two of the motets work less well: both the earlier
Rite majorem and the later Balsamus seem to go
to fast for the details to have their full effect, perhaps because
they are so strikingly different in style from the other works
performed here. And it seems a touch perverse to use the now
fashionable 'old French' pronunciation of Latin, particularly
in a motet composed for a papal ceremony (even if the original
singers would have been Franco-Flemish); In all his early motets
the text seems centrally important, and this kind of pronunciation
loses too many consonants.
But the Italian-texted Apostolo glorioso is again quite
superb, as is the Gloria and Credo pair. Briefly,
then, this is as close to a perfect Dufay CD as I have heard". |
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Guillaume
Dufay, Music for St Anthony of Padua
Francois Camper
Repertoire, January 1997 |
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| "[...] at once
contemplative and vigorous... Charged with emotion, underlining
in a strongly appropriate fashion the expressive writing of
Dufay in his mature works, The Binchois Consort give this Mass
a great force". |
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Orquestas
Conjuntos
