The Hilliard Ensemble's performance of Machaut's Messe de nostre Dame invites comparison with the EMI Taverner recording. Both, to a greater or lesser degree, seek 'authenticity': Andrew Parrott goes further, here, replacing the Mass in its liturgical context, complete with Propers, bells and celebrating 'clergy'. Paul Hillier avoids a full reconstruction: his nod in the direction of 'authenticity' restricts itself, under the guidance of Stephen Haynes, to reproducing a fourteenth-century French pronunciation of the Latin. Parrott does the same, admittedly relying on ''Educated guesswork''. The Hilliard Ensemble, using the written pitch, sing two to a part, with excessively prominent countertenors. Parrott prefers four soloists (tenors and basses), transposing down a fourth. Pitch, in the fourteenth-century, would surely depend on the singers one had to hand: probably professionals hired for the occasion.
Performance varies for the short melodic tags between phrases (Gloria and Credo). Parrott carries on with the last word of the preceding statement—a kind of final flourish; whereas Hillier uses them to introduce what follows—an ingenious and convincing solution. Both groups sing the chant at what is surely too fast a tempo. Parrott's chant is convincingly sturdy but relentlessly equalist. Hillier's is smoother and more flexible. Indeed, his whole performance is more fluid, lighter in texture with greater variety of expression, yet laciing the rugged strength of Parrott's.
Hillier includes two of Machaut's French compositions, the first, a major work, his wonderful Lai ''de la fonteinne'', admirably sung by three tenors, and finally, his famous rondeau Ma fin est mon commencement with its retrograde canon. The Lai is pure deligit—food here for the heart as well as the intellect. It is the treasure of this CD, and my main reason for wishing to buy it. As for the rondeau—one of my oldest friends—I was happy to meet it again in so gentle a guise.'