Narcisse Bousquet is quickly becoming one of my favorite composers. I have already posted one piece by him, here is another. This piece is all about C. It constantly comes back to C, reminds you that it’s in C. It occasionally flirts with other keys, but then returns, often via the 7th. I like 7ths, they’re crunchy.
I’m been remiss both about posting and about pontificating about the music, so I just posted 3 recordings from Quilisma Consort recent recording sessions for our audition CD. And I have several posts before those that are not expained, so here goes….
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Venicie, mundi splendor
Con lagreme bagnandome
Aler, m’en veus
These three pieces are all by Johannes Ciconia, one of the greatest of the Franco-Flemish composers of the 14th century. He was a prolific composer, writing a significant body of works including motets, madrigals, various song forms, mass movements, etc.
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Helas, que pourra devenir
Cela sans plus
More Flemish composers, Helas is by Issac and Cela sans plus by Josquin des Prez. These pieces are from the Odhecaton, a collection of 96 songs published by Ottaviano Petrucci in 1501. A truly wonderful collection of ensemble music for mostly 3 or 4 voices.
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Fantasia
The Leaves Be Green
These are both from the Jacobian Consort book, which is volume IX from Musica Britannica, A National Collection of Music. The Jacobian period was 1603-1625 (the reign of James I, why it isnt called Jamesian, I dont know). The Fantasia is a typical example of music of the time, it clearly is starting to make the transition from Renaissance to Baroque. The Leaves Be Green is interesting in that it is a setting by Bevin of a popular tune, and the tune can be heard all through the piece, passed from one instrument to another while the other two instruments play elaborate melodies around it. In one place, two of the three instruments are playing the tune, a quarter note apart.