A 14th Century Salmagundi
Blue Heron/Scott Metcalfe
rec. 2010 & 2014, Church of The Redeemer, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
BLUE HERON BHCD1011 [40.01]
Two points to make before we start.
First, a Salmagundi is either a savoury dish, which is mixture of fish, meat, eggs and other things, or a general hodgepodge – ‘an incoherent assemblage of miscellaneous components’. Secondly - which I’m sure that you have already spotted - the CD runs to only forty minutes. The reason for that, the booklet tells us, is that these recordings, made in 2010 and 2014, originally formed parts of other recording projects but have been assembled into this collection as the music all comes from a period from c.1290-1390. In that sense, there is nothing random about them.
The music is either French or Italian, with the leading masters of the period represented. In France the years after Machaut, that is c.1380-1420 are known as the Mannerist period or the ‘ars subtilior’ and the music is found in the Chantilly and Modena manuscripts. One of the leading composers is Jacob de Senleches, six of whose compositions are extant. He is represented here by En Attendant which is based on a song by the Italian Philipoctus da Caserta; Senleches even quotes a little of it at the beginning. This performance, by Owen McIntosh is perhaps the most elegant and fluid I have ever heard but it doesn’t quite capture the emotion which I’m sure lies within the complexity of rhythms. His performance of Machaut’s Biauté qui toutes autres pere however, is beautifully lyrical; he seems to be very comfortable with this quite emotional song.
Behind the work by Philipoctus, lies Guillaume de Machaut, the most respected master of the age. He tells us that the remedy for ill fortune is hope ‘Esperance’ as in En mon cuer a un descort. Machaut’s music can also be complex in its polyphony. None of that would have been possible, however, without the composers of a much earlier generation, the period of the ‘ars nova’- the new art which started to blossom at the end of the thirteenth century via men like Petrus de Cruce, represented here by a polytextual motet, and Philippe de Vitry, who formalised the new art. The creation of red notation indicated differing note values and the ability to write down more complex rhythms via the ‘minim’ and ‘semi minim’ opened up new worlds, as the creation of mid-Gothic architecture was doing in the ‘flamboyant; and ‘rayonnant’ style of window tracery and the elaboration of sculpture.
Many of the texts chosen are about music and musicians, so Io son un pellegrin seems to concern a penniless travelling singer. So as you can and will see, the disc is not really a salmagundi after all, but chronologically well thought out and in fact better planned than some others presenting this repertoire.
The songs mentioned above are performed here by a single voice with two instruments. The pieces by Cruce and Vitry are for three unaccompanied singers, different voices for each, which works well. This is the case with Landini’s complex, three-part Musica son; in this slick performance, the rather curmudgeonly text berates his younger contemporaries for lack of compositional skill. A similar complaint is found in Jacobo da Bologna’s Osellecto selvaggio which stresses that ‘all make themselves out to be a master”. Significantly for us, one of the real masters is mentioned in this text: Philippe de Vitry, whom everyone looks up to.
Another performance method is heard in the virelai by Machaut En mon cuer a un descort. The first voice sings monophonically, then as a two-part version with the medieval fiddle.
It was originally planned that these recordings would fit alongside a student anthology, and if you are unfamiliar or new to this period, then despite its measly playing time these sensitive and beautiful performances, full of variety of interest, would be a good place to start.
The recording is well focused, intimate, yet spacious and the disc comes in a very slim cardboard casing (as with other Blue Heron discs) with an excellent booklet containing all of the texts and an admirable description by director Scott Metcalfe of the music and its historic development.
Gary Higginson
Contents
1. Petrus DE CRUCE (fl.c.1280) Aucun ont trouvé/Lonc tans me sui tenu/Annuntiantes [3.37]
2. attr. Philippe de VITRY (1291-1361] Garrit gallus/In nova fert animus [2.40]
3. Guillaume de MACHAUT (c.1300-1377) En mon cuer a un descort [4.47]
4. MACHAUT Biauté qui toutes autres pere
5. Jacob SENLECHES (fl.c.1380) En attendant, Esperance conforte [11.52]
6. ANON: Io son un pellegrin [3.05]
7. Jacopo da BOLOGNA (fl.c1340-1386) Osellecto selvaggio [4.28]
8. Francesco LANDINI (.c1325-1397) Musica son/Già furon/Ciascun vuole [3.27]
Performers
Michael Barrett, Ian Howell, Owen McIntosh, Jason McStoots, Martin Near, Aaron Sheehan, Sumner Thompson (voices)
Laura Jepperson (fiddle); Charles Weaver (lute); Scott Metcalfe (fiddle & harp)
