CD, стоящие на полке рядом : Classics (Reconstruction)      

Archiv Produktion's Dreams in the Pleasure Garden contains 14 of Guillaume de Machaut's chansons, generally adjudged the finest extant from the fourteenth century and among the earliest examples of purely secular polyphonic music. All but one of the chansons are based on courtly texts that alternatively praise and damn the "noble lady" variously for her sweet nature, capriciousness, pleasing graces, and seeming pre-disposition toward evil. The one exception is the famous "Ma fin est mon commencement" (My end is my beginning) in which the text spells out the palindromic form of the composition itself. Machaut's artfulness is part of his great appeal, and achieving an understanding of that is a good deal easier through his secular chansons than in his great sacred works such as the Messe de Nostre Dame or in the confusion of his multi-texted motets. Even two-part Machaut chansons, however, can sound busy, and no other aspect of his output contains more of Machaut's most complicated harmonic business than the chansons. Listeners new to late medieval music should try Machaut: Chansonsin short braces of tracks at first to get a feel for his oblique harmonies and rolling rhythms, rather than ingesting all at once, lest you come down with a case of polyphonic ague. The monophonic song "Liement me deport" is just that; sung by a solo singer without drones or other distractions from the purity of Machaut's melodic line - it's a good way into this project as a whole.

In terms of interpretation, one could hardly make a better choice for this music than the Orlando Consort as it concentrates strongly on clarity of delivery of his polyphonic lines and agreement of vocal blending; text painting is nonexistent in Machaut, so projection of emotions that relate to the content of a given chanson isn't an issue. The recording, made at the medieval St.-Osdag-Kirche in Mandelsloh, is clear and direct. This 1998 disc was reissued in 2007 as part of Archiv Produktion's Al Fresco series.

All Music Guide