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As the anniversary of the death of Alexander Agricola (c. 1456-1506) approached, the neglected composer began to enjoy some attention on disc with a collection of songs on Naxos, an oddly all-encompassing survey of his output, and two pairs of masses. Now, just in time, the date has been marked by a different collection of songs. Most of these 18 songs are textless polyphonic arrangements of existing songs, the sort of thing that Agricola frequently made over and over. We hear his three settings of Binchois' Comme femme desconfort, his five settings of Hayne van Ghizeghem's De tous biens pleine, and his three settings of Ockeghem's D'un altre amer. The variety that Agricola puts into these settings is remarkable. The only duplications from the Naxos disc are three of the Hayne settings (also textless) and a six-voice setting of Busnois' Fortuna desperata (originally for three voices). To carry the borrowing a step further, one of Agricola's most famous songs, Si dedero, is represented in parodies by two of his contemporaries, and Fabrice Fitch has composed a cycle based on Agricola's music, two parts of which are included here. While most of the 18 songs on Naxos are sung, Michael Chance sings only four songs here, spaced evenly through the program and offering some of the most interesting listening.
The performances are fine and the digipack is an elegant presentation. The composer, so highly regarded in his own time, deserves more for his anniversary, but this will suffice for now. More than sufficient, it is a delightful hour and a quarter of music.
FANFARE: J. F. Weber
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