MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger


 
REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Chandos recordings
All Chandos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: AmazonUK AmazonUS

The Service of Venus and Mars: Music for the Knights of the Garter
Philippe de VITRY (1291-1361)
Gratissima virginis/Vos qui admiramini/Gaude gloriosa/Contratenor [2:38]
ANONYMOUS Singularis laudis digna [5:01]
P. des MOLINS (fl. 1350) De ce que fol pense [1:33]
ANONYMOUS (after Molins) De ce que fol pense [2:44]
ANONYMOUS Lullay, lullay [4:10]
PYCARD (fl. c.1410) Gloria [3:50]
ANONYMOUS Ther is no rose of swych virtu [3:51]
Leonel POWER (d. 1445) Sanctus [3:14]
Franchois LEBERTOUL (fl. 1409-?1428) Las, que me demanderoye [2:35]
ANONYMOUS Le gay playsir [1:18]
ANONYMOUS Le grant pleyser [1:18]
John PYAMOUR (fl. c.1418; died before March 1426) Quam pulchra es [3:24]
John DUNSTABLE (c.1390-1453) Speciosa facta es [2:06]
SOURSBY (fl. c.1430-1460) Sanctus [5:19]
Richard LOQUEVILLE Je vous pri que j’aye un baysier [1:34]
ANONYMOUS The Agincourt Carol [3:56]
Gothic Voices/Christopher Page
Andrew Lawrence-King (medieval harp)
rec. St Jude on the Hill, Hampstead, London, 30 September and 1 October, 1986. DDD
HYPERION HELIOS CDH55290 [49:46]

Experience Classicsonline


There is nothing new about this recording - now almost a quarter of a century old. But its freshness and vitality make it as enjoyable as ever.

The disc’s subtitle, Music for the Knights of the Garter, 1340-1440, is rather misleading. One expects a volume of musical works composed specifically for meetings of the august aristocratic club, founded by Edward III in 1348. Instead, it is a mixed collection of vocal and instrumental pieces possibly heard at the households of various noble members of the knighthood, ranging from Edward III himself, to his great grandson Henry V.

But no matter. The music itself is beautiful and exceptionally well performed. The vocal tracks are divided into secular and church works by mainly French and English composers, and these are interspersed with tunes played on medieval harp by Andrew Lawrence-King. Several pieces are devoted to the then-fashionable veneration of the Virgin Mary (Philippe De Vitry’s ‘Gratissima virginis’ on track 1), while others present extracts from the mass. But their yearning intensity bear strong resemblances to the secular works in the tradition of courtly love, such as the charming but anonymous ‘Ther is no rose of swych virtu’ (track 7). Many of these are strongly reminiscent of some of the tracks on Gothic Voices’ disc of music from the late fourteenth century, The Castle of Fair Welcome (also available on Helios). The quality of music on that disc is probably superior, although The Service of Venus and Mars has the edge in terms of variety.

Gothic Voices under their director Christopher Page are excellent. The warmth and humility in their voices turn what could have been a dryly academic disc into something much more relevant and alive. Margaret Philpot’s solo contralto voice in the traditional ‘Lullay, lullay’ (track 5) is particularly affecting. The recorded sound, too, is intimate and clear. As well as interesting notes, Helios have included full texts and translations, making this a real value-for-money disc.

John-Pierre Joyce

see also review by Brian Wilson
(March 2010 Bargain of the Month)


 

 


 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.