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Reviewer:
Fabrice Fitch
The Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV (reigned 1356-78) was one of the most cultured rulers of his time, his mark on the art and architecture of his imperial seat, Prague, still visible today. His patronage of music is less easy to pin down: although Machaut served for a time as secretary to Charles’s father and Prague was a hub of dissemination of the Ars Nova style, recent years have brought to light much information on specific indigenous traits in both plainsong and polyphony, much of which finds its way on to this distinctive recital, a musical evocation of Charles’s reign and legacy. A substantial proportion of the programme consists of monophony of various sorts, both sacred (hymns, sequences, antiphons, responsories) and secular (the selections in German and Czech, to my mind the highlights of the recital). The treatment of rhythm is plastic and flexible, partly a result of indications within the sources themselves (particularly as regards the secular repertory). Vocal delivery is uniformly placid, characterful and yet soft-centred, even in the polyphonic selections (the anonymous Je languis and Machaut’s Dame je sui cilz reminiscent of Gothic Voices’ interpretations). This uniformity is perhaps the recital’s only shortcoming: with so many different styles and functions on offer, a greater range of tone, colour and ornamentation might have suggested itself. Instrumental participation is sparing and, in the main, well judged.
Finally,
the presentation is beautiful, with illustrations from the famous wall paintings
of Charles’s castle at Karlstein. Incidentally, this ensemble’s past discography
bears eloquent witness to Prague’s special place in medieval European cultural
history and is well worth discovering. |
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