This disc from the
Swedish mediaeval band, Falsobordone, presents a selection
of songs and dances from mediaeval Europe. These would have been performed at feasts. Comprising
fairly familiar works, it includes music form composers
as well known as Alfonso X and de Machaut, as well as anonymous
compositions. The disc insert includes recipes, reconstructed
by archaeologists, for dishes that might have featured at
such banquets. The one reservation I have about this disc
concerns these notes, which, whilst giving many tasty details
about the food, say next to nothing about the music. This
detracts from the importance of the works themselves, I
feel; for example, words to the songs would have been appreciated!
The pieces are extremely
well-performed, and are pleasantly raucous and riotous.
I was particularly drawn to the deeply appealing Alfonso
X’s Muito faz grand’ero, and the enchanting anonymous
Sia laudato san Francesco and Alfonso’s Laudar
vollio per amore, with their male voice drone. The
voices are all suited to this kind of music – the female
voices are sweet and clear, whilst remaining strong and
robust – Karin Strinnholm Lagergren, for example, has a
particularly sweet and beautiful voice, rich and mature.
One perhaps might look
for a touch more wildness and stridency. This is, after
all, feast music, and while these performances do not lack
joy or passion, I feel they could be slightly less controlled
and more unhinged – as, indeed, one imagines, they may have
been at the time! This is otherwise a thoroughly enjoyable
disc. It is not, however, an entirely novel idea; in 2001,
Harmonia Mundi brought out a CD/book entitled Food, wine
and song. This covers the same period and countries
– even, on occasion, the same composer (de Machaut), although
they don’t cover the same songs. The Harmonia Mundi publication,
with the Orlando Consort, gives a 120-page disc-size booklet
given over not just to the recipes - formulated by famous
British cooks - but also to scholarly notes on the food,
composers, music in general. It includes the texts for the
songs as well. In the present case the marriage of food
and music is taken a step further by each recipe being allied
to a particular piece of music. The music-making is, naturally,
of a high standard. If it came to a choice between the two
discs, I would automatically opt for the Harmonia Mundi
disc – if only because it is better presented, and includes
so much extra information and material. However, I wouldn’t
hesitate to recommend the Falsobordone disc to any lover
of medieval music, the more omniphagous the better ...
Em Marshall
Falsobordone: Erik Ask-Upmark (harp, bagpipes, organetto, voice), Anna
Rynefors (rebec, bagpipes, harp, percussion, voice), Sven Jansson (percussion),
Stefan Wikstrom (trombone), Karin Strinnholm Lagergren (voice), Anders
Adin (hurdy-gurdy, lute), Goran Hallmarken (hurdy-gurdy, percussion)
