Motets

When I first learned the terms "polyphony", and "monophony" I thought of the difference between Gregarian Chant and all music after it. Wrong.What we listen in popular music is not polyphony, it may be harmonious, but that is just a primitive step beyond monophony.This album presents, clearly, that difference. It demonstrates the amazing glory of polyphony. Polyphony does exist in modern music, but not in the music that gets airplay.This is an amazing recording. The genius of Machaut drips off each track.Buy it, and prepare to have your notions of how far we have gone beyond the Gregarian Chant demolished.

This is the re-issue of the recording from 2002 (published in 2004) in Zig-Zag label.Look at the two very good reviews on the original for a detailed survey.Here i just want to add that although these pieces are called "Motets",do not try to find the deep austerity and seriousness that often comes with this genre.No, the motets here sounds more like a compilation of chansons from one to few voices, with sometimes an instrumental pieces between them.The outcome is simply a revelation.A magnificent tapestry of intricate voices ,yet it's always light in the good sense of the word, and full of delicate colors, finesse and surprises.I never knew that the music of Machaut is so beautiful until this recording,and it seems to me that this music is tailored to the exquisite Musica Nova.

As soon as I saw this set was to be re-released I put in an order straight away. I almost wish I hadn't now. Apart from the full motets (many with instrumental accompaniment, which is really not what I was wanting at all) there are also cut down (that is, solo voice delivering just the triplum or motetus) and purely instrumental versions. I'm not sure what this is supposed to achieve; if it is to make the vocal line more clear by hearing it also in isolation, it doesn't help that the two versions are more often than not widely separated throughout the two discs.For me this is just watering down the content. The scant half page of notes indicate that the ensemble couldn't decide which selection of motets to perform, so decided to do them all. Presumably they couldn't get them all on the one disc so had to pad it all out somehow.The pieces are performed by the ensemble Musica Nova consisting of two sopranos, two mezzos, two tenors and one bass. For my part I much prefer to hear this kind of music from male ensembles employing countertenors.All this aside, the performances, while competent, simply do not fire me up as much as the motets disc by  the Hilliard Ensemble  or other recordings of Machaut songs by  the Orlando Consort  and  The Medieval Ensemble of London .Two discs in foldout digipak; the attached booklet contains virtually zero notes but does have the full sung texts with modern French and English translations. the Hilliard Ensemblethe Orlando ConsortThe Medieval Ensemble of London

Le plus : la seule intégrale des 23 motets. Lecture analytique mais interprétation trop sage, bien élévée, "universitaire" voire carrément terne au niveau des voix. Ca manque terriblement de vie, de chaleur, de spontanéité...Ce disque a eu c'est vrai une bonne critique mais je lui préfère de loin le beau disque du clerks'group (16 motets) ou celui du ferrara ensemble (superbe "mercy ou mort" : 8 motets).