Alexander Agricola: Chansons [Import]

Alexander Agricola (Composer), Fabrice Fitch (Composer), Heinrich Isaac (Composer), Ninot le Petit (Composer), Michael Chance (Performer), Fretwork (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Michael Chance, Fretwork
• Composer: Alexander Agricola, Fabrice Fitch, Heinrich Isaac, Ninot le Petit
• Audio CD (August 8, 2006)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
• ASIN: B000GH3CTI
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #453,725 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a voice teacher and early music fan, August 15, 2006

By 

George Peabody "Ariel" (U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Alexander Agricola: Chansons (Audio CD)

BROADEN YOUR HORIZONS!
Alexander Agricola (1456-1506) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance and a prominent member of the 'Grand chapelle', the Hapsburg musical establishment. He was a renowned composer in the years around 1500, and his music was widely distributed throughout Europe. He wrote music in all the important sacred and secular styles of his time.

His style is related to that of Johannes Ockegham, especially early on in his career, and towards the end of his life he was writing using the pervasive imitation characteristics of Josquin de Pres. He is one of the few transitional figures between the Burgundian style and the style of the Josquin generation of the Netherlands who actually composed music in both styles.

There is a charming howbeit somewhat 'quirky' aspect about the viol consort arrangements of assorted 'chansons' that make up the bulk of this program. The listener is constantly being taken by surprise when Agricola's clear-cut counterpoint is interrupted by abrupt pauses, unexpected harmonic 'scrunches' or odd changes in melodic direction. One example is the setting 'De Tois biens plaine' which requires two of the viols to play pizzato, giving their ostinato accompaniment to the bowed melody a most unusual but very beautiful sound.

His originality has often been questioned as many of his compositions are based on the song material of other composers. Agricola uses some complex writing in these songs, and is ever the jokester, often using strange pedal notes, or ending on out-of-key cadences. Four of the works on this disc are sung by countertenor Michael Chance, who narrates the poems in a very plaintive and ascetic manner, in true Gallic (Burgundian) style. The selections on this disc focus on instrumental performance. Like so much polyphony of this and previous centuries most of these pieces are based on pre-existant melodies and present the different settings of a single tune. The resulting repetition of a single melody points out Agricola's works showing his ability to vary the melody in many different ways.

Fretwork also offers a first time recording of 2 pieces from Fabrice Fitch's (an "expert" on Agricola's music)"agricologies", a cycle inspired by the Renaissance mast

Fretwork's shapely performances bring out both the playful and contemplative aspects of the music. Michael Chance characterizes his four vocal contributions to perfection, from the tragic hopelessness of 'Je nay direil' to forthright assertion of undying loyalty in 'Eu actendant'.

This recording is clean and clear, warm, and lightly focused; Fretwork and Chance both perform in an expert manner. I particularly liked the French love poems as sung by Chance. Harmonia Mundi has neatly packaged this album with detailed informative liner notes and lyrics for the French songs in English, French and German.

BBC Magazine, October 2006: "Fretwork brings out the warmth and subtlety of the instruments, and Michael Chance sings convincingly in his four appearances."

GRAMOPHONE CLASSICAL MUSIC GUIDE, 2010: "An impressive disc on all accounts, which should do much to restore Agricola's obscure profile to the light".

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Golly, Guys 'n Gals, I thought I'd reviewed this CD ..., November 20, 2010

By 

Giordano Bruno - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Alexander Agricola: Chansons (Audio CD)

... years ago! I love it! I love the complex quirky music of Alexander Agricola (1456-1506), and this is one of the very few CDs of his work that satisfies my expectations. But I'd forgotten about it until a few days ago, when I reviewed a brilliant performance of his most intricate vocal composition, the Missa in Myne Zyn, sung by the ensemble Capilla Flamenca. That CD includes four of Agricola's "instrumental" fantasies based on amorous songs, all played on violas da gamba. The gambists with Capilla Flamenca are quite skilled, but even they don't match the virtuosity of Fretwork, the finest gamba consort since the invention of cat-gut.

The selections on this CD include about half of the surviving 'secular' music by Agricola, all set in three or four voices, all displaying the strange originality, especially the polyrhythmic riddles of 'prolation' for which Agricola was famous. Rather like the 20th C composer Webern, Agricola packs more 'musical ideas' into a three-minute fantasy than Wagner packed into a whole opera. Whether these pieces were composed with gambas in mind, or lutes or recorders, is currently unknown, probably unknowable, and not terribly important so long as the players on whatever instruments understand the idiomatic rhythms and have the 'chops' to play them. The gambists of Fretwork had to get special instruments of a 15th C design made to order for this recording. That's how earnest they were about "getting it right."

Renaissance polyphony was generally composed around the "tenor" rather than in support of the treble. It takes a different habit of listening to appreciate this structure. The addition of counter-tenor Michael Chance to the Fretwork ensemble both highlights that kind of compositional logic and adds a lustrous timbre to the voice-like incantations of the gambas. This is a CD to relish again and again; Agricola's musical inspirations are inexhaustible.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Delightful Disc, April 28, 2009

By 

Thomas Gleim (Gaithersburg, MD United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alexander Agricola: Chansons (Audio CD)

This very delightful release offers 18 chansons by Alexander Agricola (c. 1456 - 1506), one of the minor masters of the great Netherlandish (aka "Burgundian" or "Franco-Flemish") School of the fifteenth and early sixteenth century. He was born about 15 years later than Josquin Desprez, but died about 15 years earlier (some dates are uncertain). Most of the songs are here played by viol consort, though four are also sung by countertenor. We also hear two other chansons (one by Ninot le Petit, one by Pierre de la Rue/Heinrich Isaac) and two new compositions (for viol consort) by Fabrice Fitch that are based on Agricola's music.

If you've collected fifteenth century Netherlandish polyphony recordings for long, you know that over the last 25 years a kind of frenzy for recording the sacred polyphony of this period developed and is still in full swing. If the masses of Dufay or Obrecht aren't as popular as the Beethoven symphonies, they still don't want for many fine recordings. (Years ago I had five or six different recordings in my collection of almost every sacred work Dufay ever wrote.) What we've really needed, but only seen occasionally, are quality recordings of the secular works of the period. So a disc like this is always very welcome.

The music here reminded me most of Ockeghem. It has that same dark, brooding feel, the same type of unexpected turns. I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Perhaps everyone won't be quite so enthused about the viol consort presentation, although I can offer nothing but praise for Fretwork's sensitive and enthusiastic readings. (The notes reveal that most of these pieces aren't texted in the sources.) The viol isn't the human voice, so no performance by such a consort is ever going to be as richly nuanced or expressive as a vocal performance. Still in all, the readings are completely convincing on their own terms.

Saving the best for last, I don't know how to praise countertenor Michael Chance's performances of four of the songs enough. I'm not always a fan of the countertenor voice, but here Chance demonstrates exactly how noble, moving and polished such a voice can be. This is just singing at its finest, no matter what the voice type. Bravo!

The release is packaged in cardboard case style, with a booklet containing a decently written essay on Agricola, the music and this recording (English, French and German). It also contains the texts for the four sung items (with English and German translations).