Christine de Pizan, Chansons et Ballades
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Christine de Pizan
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Berlin Classics
Magazine Review Date: 03/2016
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 57
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 0300699BC
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Jeux à vendre |
Christine de Pizan, Composer
Christine de Pizan, Composer VocaMe |
Ma dame secours; Amoureux oeil; Je vois jouer; Dieux est s’ainsi me dure |
Christine de Pizan, Composer
Christine de Pizan, Composer VocaMe |
Mon bel ami, je voy trop bien |
Christine de Pizan, Composer
Christine de Pizan, Composer VocaMe |
À Dieu, mon ami |
Christine de Pizan, Composer
Christine de Pizan, Composer VocaMe |
Mon chevalier, mon gracieux servant |
Christine de Pizan, Composer
Christine de Pizan, Composer VocaMe |
Dueil engoisseus |
Christine de Pizan, Composer
Christine de Pizan, Composer VocaMe |
Amours, escoute ma complainte |
Christine de Pizan, Composer
Christine de Pizan, Composer VocaMe |
Ovide dit |
Christine de Pizan, Composer
Christine de Pizan, Composer VocaMe |
Dieux! on se plaint |
Christine de Pizan, Composer
Christine de Pizan, Composer VocaMe |
Mon ami, ne plourez plus |
Christine de Pizan, Composer
Christine de Pizan, Composer VocaMe |
Ditie de Jehanne d’Arc |
Christine de Pizan, Composer
Christine de Pizan, Composer VocaMe |
L’amant et la dame |
Christine de Pizan, Composer
Christine de Pizan, Composer VocaMe |
Seulette suy |
Christine de Pizan, Composer
Christine de Pizan, Composer VocaMe |
Author: Edward Breen
The results are fascinating. The four female vocalists of VocaMe and multi-medieval-instrumentalist and director Michael Popp have already marked themselves out for innovative programming of works by medieval women, and their clear, bright voices are perfectly balanced by the battery of plucked and bowed strings and Eastern-tinged percussion. They create two main sound worlds on this disc: solo singing with instrumental accompaniment and a cappella performance. These are cleverly juxtaposed in the first track, Jeux à vendre, where a vendor offers various objects to a customer who reflects on the flirtatious undertones of their bargaining. Despite reflecting the inner thoughts of the customer in Jeux à vendre, this a cappella sound feels rather synthetic, perhaps too closely recorded or acoustically enhanced. I prefer a more naturalistic production.
The composers whizzing past on the carousel of VocaMe’s imagination range through Bernart de Ventadorn, Guillaume de Machaut, Guillaume Dufay and Gilles Binchois. Frustratingly, VocaMe don’t specify the origin for their contrafacta, leaving the listeners to puzzle it out for themselves. Binchois’s Deuil angoisseux is performed in an intimate lute-song style. Compared with Gothic Voices’ recording (Hyperion, 11/86), it gains a more modern sense of melancholy but downplays the extraordinary blazes of F major sustained in vocal performance. The contenance angloise is thus sublimated.
Elsewhere, Popp provides stunning troubadour accompaniment, perhaps channelling Thomas Binkley and his famous Arabicised accompaniments for Mon chevalier, mon gracieux servant. Whichever approach VocaMe take, Christine de Pizan remains out front, her words scorching through the splendid medieval textures.
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