Here is a true beakerful of the warm south: four centuries of song from herb-scented Provence, songs of love, songs of spring, songs and dances of the troubadours, traditional songs, motets and sequences – a profusion of wonderful melodies, well-matched by the diversity of range and timbre of the performers. There are tenor and soprano soloists, groupings of altos, and tenors, by themselves or in alternation; and finally, some imaginative instrumentalists. There is a diversity of moods as well, ranging from the sprightly and boisterous to the languid. Martin Best displays his customary ease and wit, with those gliding ornaments that disappear discreetly into the fabric of the vocal line. Then there is Libby Crabtree with her clear, precise, yet glowing soprano voice.
The highlights are surely A chanter m’er, by the twelfth-century female troubadour Beatriz, Countess of Dia, sung by Crabtree; and its idealized counterpart Lanquan li jorn, composed by Jaufre Rudel de Blaye, the contemporary of Beatriz, and movingly performed by Best to a quiet accompaniment of psaltery and fidele. There are also some rollicking jollities, such as Ara Lauzatz and the traditional Lo Sodard. Three sequences complete these sketches of life in Provence between the twelfth and the sixteenth centuries, two with organum, the third, Epiphanium Domino, sung gently with the rhythmic interpretation suggested by Handschin in the old Oxford History of Music. Concise, illuminating insert-notes are offered, with translations but, sadly, no original texts: my one criticism.'