Love Songs in the Age of Ronsard [Import]

Given the relative dearth of recordings dedicated to 16th-century French secular music, any new releases devoted to this repertoire merit serious consideration. In this particular programme, based around the poetry of Pierre de Ronsard (1524-85), one of the stars of the Pléiade whose verse was much admired by musicians at the time, the viol consort Parthenia present a rich selection of music encompassing some of the most important genres and composers of Renaissance France. Their playing is excellent, which is hardly surprising when you realise that its members have performed with some of the best-known groups currently specialising in early music - Les Arts Florissants, Piffaro, Sequentia and Anonymous 4 amongst them. For this recording, Parthenia are also joined by two other well-known performers in the early music world: the renowned soprano Julianne Baird, and the Renaissance violinist Robert Mealy (a member of Sequentia, The King's Noyse and many other well-known ensembles).

There are just two minor complaints with this recording. Firstly, the title 'love songs in the age of Ronsard' is slightly misleading given that much of the CD actually comprises instrumental music (notably Moderne, Caurroy and Praetorius), and in fact, of the remaining tracks which are indeed chansons, not all of them are actually the work of Ronsard (e.g. the text for Le Jeune's 'Revecy venir le Printans' [track 1] is by Ronsard's friend, Jean-Antoine de Baïf [1532-1589]). This is all the more curious in view of the large number of musical settings of Ronsard's poetry which could have been selected instead, by composers ranging from the celebrated (e.g. Lassus, Arcadelt, Janequin, Certon, etc.) to the obscure (e.g. Clereau, Millot, Roussel, Entraigues, etc.). Secondly, from a musicological perspective, questions arise from the choice of performing forces adopted here (i.e. viol consort, sometimes with violin). In general, surviving documentation strongly suggests that mixed groups of strings and wind were favoured above 'whole' consorts (like viols) - for example, Henri II's Chambre employed 3 singers, a lutenist, an organist, a "flutiste" and 2 "joueurs de violles" between 1547-50, whereas the viol consort per se seems only to have become established in France right at the end of the century. Such preference for mixed forces is also mirrored by the musical sources themselves: for example, the title page for Jacques Moderne's 'Musicque de joye', c.1550, from which a few of the dances are taken here, gives the indication 'appropriée tant à la voix humaine que pour sonner Espinettes, Violons et fleustes'. Incidentally, the addition of a violin to the viol consort merely complicates the issue, since violins were generally associated with the Ecurie (comprising loud instruments like shawms and sackbuts, used primarily for balls and dance music), rather than the Chambre, and even when violins do begin to appear in the Chambre (from 1577), it seems significant that they are actually grouped with lutenists and spinet players (rather than viols).

Nevertheless, in spite of these reservations, there is certainly enough to commend this CD, particularly when you take into account the high standard of musicianship. Some other recordings of similar repertoire worth exploring are:

1. Ensemble Clément Janequin's superlative release entitled Songs on poems by Ronsard, dedicated entirely to musical settings of Ronsard's poetry.
2. For Caurroy's Fantasies of 1610, the recording by Hesperion XX, Xxiii Fantasies, is exemplary. Readings of Praetorius's Terpsichore are available in abundance; two particularly fine ones are Terpsichore (1612), performed by the Ricercar Consort & La Fenice, and Michael Praetorius: Dances from Terpsichore (1612), interpreted by the Parley of Instruments.
3. For a programme of music similar to the present CD, Le Jardin de Mélodies performed by the King's Noyse is excellent. Although it encounters some of the same problems as Parthenia's recording, the overall result is arguably more successful since it concentrates mainly on dance music (which violins would have played) and it uses a 5-part violin band rather than a mix of violins and viols.
4. Lastly, for a taste of one of the other major genres of music popular in France from the late 16th century onwards, namely the air de court, the compilation Si Tu Veux Apprendre Les Pas a Danser (Dig) performed by Le Poème Harmonique is definitely worth exploring; the most successful tracks are probably amongst the best available performances of French music from this period. (p.s. if your budget does not quite stretch to the full 3-CD set, the best of the three is probably Anthoine Boesset: Je meurs sans mourir).

› Go to Amazon.com to see the review  4.0 out of 5 stars