Categories
Recording

Machaut: Fortune’s child

The Orlando Consort
60:40
hyperion CDA68195

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his CD features a sequence of secular songs  by Machaut on the theme of fortune. Whether you perform your Machaut purely vocally, or – as many younger ensembles do – with a mixture of voices and instruments, the frightening complexity and striking originality of Machaut’s music shines through. However, having listened to the Orlando Consort regularly live and on CD, I have puzzled over what it is about their sound that I don’t like and struggle to put my finger on it. The sound is a little opaque, the intonation is not consistently true, perhaps due to vibrato, and the overall sound never seems to me entirely comfortable. I have spoken to people who share my opinion and to others who have no idea what I am talking about, and perhaps this is my problem. Anyway, the CD offers the opportunity to judge for yourself, with a wide and varied selection of Machaut’s finest virelais  and ballades, sung by various combinations of voices from solo, and duet to trio. On the whole, I preferred the solo virelais.

D. James Ross

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=GB&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=infocentral-21&marketplace=amazon&region=GB&placement=B079FGT22M&asins=B079FGT22M&linkId=64bcf83b3ef6c5b7893d666813e91751&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-eu.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=DE&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-21&marketplace=amazon&region=DE&placement=B079FGT22M&asins=B079FGT22M&linkId=4c7e732245f44796538bb49d1b89a672&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

[iframe style=”width:120px;height:240px;” marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ src=”//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ss&ref=as_ss_li_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=earlymusicrev-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=B079FGT22M&asins=B079FGT22M&linkId=14afac343292f76fdab8daa63579e241&show_border=true&link_opens_in_new_window=true”]

Banner, 234x60, ohne Claim, bestellen

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Discover more from early music review

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading