Notes and Editorial Reviews
MACHAUT
Loyauté que point. Ay mi!
JEHAN DE LESCUREL
Comment que pour l’éloignance
ANON
De cuer je souspire. Lai de la Pastourelle
•
Marc Mauillon (voice); Pierre Hamon (fl); dir; Vivabiancaluna Biffi (vièle)
•
ELOQUENTIA EL 0607 (54:36
Text and Translation)
With remarkable speed, the disc that preceded another Machaut disc by the same
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performers (
Fanfare
33:5) has now arrived, and it was worth the wait. At first blush it might seem to be a poor candidate for best-sellerdom, but the major work is not just another of Machaut’s lais. It is the first complete recording of his first work in that form, one that has been dangled before us in fragmentary form on five previous discs. It is unique, for, as Lawrence Earp writes: “The metrical structure and the music are the same for all 12 strophes; only the rhymes and the pattern of masculine and feminine endings change.” At nearly 36 minutes, early interpreters would hesitate to inflict such boredom on an audience, or so it would seem; the same was true of strophic chant hymns a few decades ago, when the monks of Solesmes (of all people) recorded the much-loved
Ave maris stella
twice with some of the strophes omitted, whereas it has been recorded in recent years by numerous choirs, invariably including all seven strophes. Record buyers have proved their interest in many similar genres and Mauillon has now responded with these two new issues.
The ballade by Jehan de Lescurel (or l’Escurel) was recorded by Lena-Suzanne Norin of the Ensemble Gilles Binchois on a disc devoted entirely to that composer, and Pierre Hamon played recorder in that performance. In this version he plays percussion along with the solo voice and vièle, a contrasting performance (both versions render all three strophes). The new version is an improvement over giving the male lover’s text to a female singer. Among several versions of the virelai
Ay mi!
by Machaut, Emanuel Bonnardot included it in a collection of his songs that likewise included another full-length
lai
(21:3). This one is quite equal to it, but the Gothic Voices (7:5; CD in 11:3) has an unaccompanied rendition featuring Andrew Tusa. The two anonymous works are lais,
De cuer je souspire
being the last surviving example of the form, decades after the death of Machaut, who was composing in this form when it was already old-fashioned. It is hard to find duplicate versions of such anonymous works, but these may very well be first recordings. Superbly performed, this disc should not be overlooked.
FANFARE: J. F. Weber
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Works on This Recording
1.
Loyauté que point ne delay by Guillaume de Machaut
Performer:
Vivabiancaluna Biffi (Vielle),
Pierre Hamon (Flute),
Marc Mauillon (Baritone)
Period: Medieval
Written: 14th Century; France
2.
Ay mi, dame de valour by Guillaume de Machaut
Performer:
Pierre Hamon (Flute),
Marc Mauillon (Baritone)
Period: Medieval
Written: 14th Century; France
3.
Du cuer je soupire by Anonymous
Performer:
Pierre Hamon (Flute),
Marc Mauillon (Baritone)
Period: Medieval
Written: 15th Century; France
5.
Lai de la pastourelle by Anonymous
Performer:
Vivabiancaluna Biffi (Vielle),
Pierre Hamon (Flute),
Marc Mauillon (Baritone)
Period: Medieval
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