Eustache
du Caurroy first entered the service of the French kings as
a singer, but soon established a reputation as a composer.
He served three monarchs – Charles IX, Henri III and Henri
IV – holding positions as vice-maître de la chapelle royale,
compositeur de la chapelle et de la chambre
and surintendant de la musique. His work brought him
many rewards, including a large estate in Picardy – so that
there is a certain aptness in the fact that this CD was recorded
in Picardy, in connection with the Festival des Cathédrales
de Picardie.
Denis
Raisin Dadre and his ensemble Doulce Mémoire have already
rendered Du Caurroy considerable service in the form of their
excellent recording of his ‘Missa pro Defunctis’ – used at
the funeral of every French monarch until the Revolution –
on their CD Requiem des Rois de France. That disc was
much admired and garlanded with prizes. The Mass and some
of Du Caurroy’s instrumental fantasies are nowadays the best
known of the composer’s works.
Now
Doulce Mémoire have turned their attention to Du Caurroy’s
Meslanges. This miscellaneous - hence the title - collection
was published posthumously in 1610, under the supervision
of the composer’s nephew. It contains 10 Psalms, 36 Chansons
and 15 Noëls, and a selection from this source is here very
beautifully performed.
Du
Caurroy was, on the whole, a conservative musician rather
than a great innovator. In his contribution to the booklet
notes, Denis Raisin Dadre sees the Meslanges as “the
final testimony of an already bygone era” and as “the final
legacy of the renaissance”. Du Caurroy’s roots are in the
Franco-Flemish tradition of choral polyphony. In the settings
of French paraphrases from the Psalms – to which the performers
have justifiably given a degree of disproportionate prominence
on this CD – he writes music of sombre gravity and exquisite,
subtle beauty. In the best of them - such as ‘Le long des
eaux’, a paraphrase of verses from Psalm 136 by Didier Lupi
– he achieves a memorable and rare expressiveness. His secular
song settings, on the other hand, sometimes seem a little
too solemn for their texts. One gets the sense that Du Caurroy
did not have much time for musical small-talk, or for texts
that he perhaps regarded as trivial. The two Noëls which Raisin
and Doulce Mémoire have chosen to record are very striking,
far more complex than was then usual for pieces in this genre
and seeming to anticipate the Noëls of Charpentier. Here,
if anywhere, is a point at which Du Caurroy’s music seems
to look forward, stylistically speaking.
Raisin
and Doulce Mémoire are sensitive and flexible in the deployment
of their vocal and instrumental resources, so that the effects
– as we move from purely vocal to purely instrumental and
back – are constantly varied. Much well informed historical
imagination underpins these performances, as well as thoroughly
assured vocal and instrumental techniques. The results are
invigorating and uplifting. Without ever being inappropriately
gaudy, the musical colours are rich and beguiling, though
never at the cost of any loosening of a firm grasp on the
complex structures. The performances seem exemplary.
Full
texts - and English translations – are provided. This thoroughly
recommendable CD opens up a relatively little-known musical
territory and communicates the joy of discovery.
Glyn Pursglove
