Customer Reviews

La Chasse & Other Chansons

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This recording deserves five stars for the melodious chansons of Janequin. The Introduction briefly describes the vivid evocation of nature and allusions to French literature, especially Rabelais and Ronsard implying that like all good composers, Janequin employed music to highlight the words he is setting. Every Ensemble Janequin recording I have fails to provide translation. No knowing French limited my pleasure.
But the performance and the composer deserve a place in your collection.

These are wild and vigorous songs quite expressive of the period.

This Harmonia Mundi CD is superb. The music is energetic and jubilant. Janequin was hundreds of years ahead of his time in creating music that reflects the sound of the words: La caquet des femmes sounds just like the cacophony of raised women's voices in a busy public place. La Guerre replicates the emotions and sounds of war. One of the songs is the sound of the wind. And so on. Yet the early music feeling is strong. Ensemble Clement Janequin is world-renowned. The singing is magnificent. True, a nod to the previous reviewer, there is no translation of the text, which is in old French. The CD was recorded in France by a French ensemble, and only the old French text is provided in the booklet. In my humble opinion, that's all that is needed. The music speaks for itself.