5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
DuFay mille bonjours, Feb 10 2008
By H. Chr Albertz - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Milles Bonjours! (Audio CD)
highly recommendabale, this excellent cd of the most outstanding composer of his age: elegant, melodious music, polyphonic, but not in an austere way; fluent and incredible harmonious, fascinating music. The execution? Superb. Grateful to have been able to buy this rich, highly rewarding music! HCA
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
These Devils OWN Dufay!, Sep 26 2008
By Customer Formerly Known as Giordano Bruno - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Milles Bonjours! (Audio CD)
Without a moment's doubt, I can say that this is the best-performed CD of Dufay's secular chansons that I've ever heard, with 19 of those supremely sophisticated miniature masterpieces assembled in a concert progress from love-sickness to joie-de-vivre. This recording is a perfect companion to Diabolus in Musica's CD of Dufay's most memorable mass, Missa Se La Face Ay Pale (which I've reviewed previously. Wonder of wonders, the chanson Se La Face Ay Pale is included on this disk, in an elaborated "keyboard" setting from a tablature manuscript, played on an instrument that worked somewhat like a harpsichord and sounds rather like a harp on energy drinks. The singers have to share glory in this performance with some extraordinarily skillful playing of late Medieval instruments: vielle (fiddle) and Burgundian harp especially. But there's plenty of glory to be shared.
The name of this ensemble - Diabolus in Musica - would probably get this CD banned from certain libraries in Alaska, but actually the term refers to the interval of the tritone (the augmented fourth) which either in chords or in scale passages caused innumerable headaches for polyphonists, always sounding "wrong' to their ears. The solution involved something called "musica ficta", the addition of a sharp or a flat to avoid the tritone. Such ficta were seldom notated; the performer was expected to recognize the need and to know the rules. Rest assured that Ensemble Diabolus in Musica is totally avoidant of devilish dissonances.
The secular chanson repertoire, from Machaut to Dufay, is the prime glory of Medieval music, as pre-eminent as the madrigal in the late Renaissance or the polka at a Minnesota family reunion.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful music, beautiful voices and instruments, Jun 24 2010
By hinducats "hinducats" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Milles Bonjours! (Audio CD)
This is perhaps the best Dufay album I have ever heard. Combining the genius of Dufay with the topnotch musicianship of Diabolus in Musica has given rise to a beautiful concert. Definitely recommended - Mary Devlin