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Reviewer:
David Fallows Johannes de Lymburgia was active in the Veneto around 1430, though presumably born in the Low Countries. His music is known almost exclusively from a single manuscript now in Bologna (the famous Q15), which contains no fewer than 46 works credited to him, making him the second most represented composer in the manuscript (the first being the great Dufay). Despite that, he is almost totally ignored. As far as I can see only about three of his works are available on record. So this CD devoted entirely to his music is more than to be welcomed: it is a major breakthrough in the availability of early 15th-century music in the catalogue. His music is all in devotional Latin and presumably all liturgical, and it must be said that it hardly makes for the most enthralling listening: he was by no means Dufay. But Baptiste Romain and Le Miroir de Musique make the best possible case of the music, with flawless performances throughout, most particularly introducing a new name to the catalogue of medieval music, that of the soprano Jessica Jans, who carries much of the main melodic material with magical clarity and expressive singing. On the other hand, one could have questions about the ensemble choices here. Even if we accept the historically unlikely mixing of male and female voices in liturgical polyphony, we may have a harder time accepting vielles taking part in such music much before 1470, as already pointed out by Peter Holman more than 30 years ago. That may not matter, except that the constant instrumental participation can result in somewhat breathless tempos. But, as I said, we should be massively grateful that this CD exists at all. |
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