Customer Reviews

Dufay: Missa "Se La Face ay Pale", Missa Sancti Jacobi, Rite Maiorem, Ecclesiae Militantis

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I had been trying to find a used copy of this out of print CD for over 8 months. I was excited when one became available after relentlessly checking with Amazon. I had actually ordered this 2 cd set twice from two different sellers who advertised having a copy and then both sent me emails stating that I had been refunded because they did not actually have it.

I was looking forward to hearing two masses of Dufay with instruments to add to my collection of recordings by Cantica Symphonia (Missae and Fragmenta Missarum, both really wonderful experiences; and the recording of Dufay's isorhythmic motets by the Huelgas Ensemble, a mystical and beautiful encounter).

I have been usually pleased with other Lyrichord recordings, but the singing on this 2 cd set is downright hard to listen to. It reminds me of a similarly unpleasant listen to a Seon recording of Josquin's Missa La Sol Fa Re Mi. You can read my equally disappointed review of that recording as well. What both of these recordings have in common are two aspects: (1) a lack of balance and integration of the instrumental music and the choir, so the overall effect is that of a blurry halo of sound, and (2) the choir sounds like it is singing too fast and seems to consist predominantly of wobbly elderly sopranos and altos who are singing more in a wavering vocal style more appropriate to opera and comes off in the end sounding nothing like a renaissance work at all.

If you want to enjoy outstanding recordings of Dufay's glorious masses with instrumental accompaniments, then I highly recommend seeking used copies of the recordings I listed above by Cantica Symphonia (on the Stradivarius Dulcimer label) and the isorhythmic motets (CD entitled "O Gemma Lux") performed incredibly by the Huelgas Ensemble on the Harmonia Mundi label.

15th Century composer Guillaume Dufay (c. 1397-1474) was a crucial figure in forging the polyphonic techniques that would become the foundation of Renaissance music. He's one of my favorite composers of all-time - and this is my favorite recording of Dufay. While it's out of print, the university where I work and study music has this CD at its library. I was fortunate enough to experience this recording while taking a "Music of the Renaissance" course. The otherworldly beauty of the Capella Cordina's voices instantly captivated me.

"Missa Se la Face Ay Pale," an Ordinary Mass Cycle (Gloria, Kyrie, Credo, Sanctus, Agnus Dei) from approximately 1450, dominates Disc One. Dufay suffuses these Mass movements with recurring, identifiable motifs, achieving compositional unity and establishing the standards to which composers of 15th century sacred music aspired. Somewhat controversially, Dufay based the Mass on his own chanson `Se la face ay pale;' previously, Mass movements had been based on Church-approved plainchants. The chanson also appears here, as do three others ("Vergene Bella," "Las, Que Feray," and "Ma Belle Dame Souveraine").

"The Mass for St. James the Greater," which takes up most of disc 2, is an early Dufay plenary Mass (c. 1427), which includes not only the movements of the Mass Ordinary but also the Proper movements (Introit, Alleluia, Offertory and Communio). Scholars have identified the Communio as the first documented use of "fauxbourdon" - a quasi-improvisatory technique that employed parallel first inversion chords, thereby emulating the "sweet sound" developed by early 15th century English composers. The Mass doesn't rival the joyful beauty of "Missa Se la Face Ay Pale," but instead captures Dufay in a formative, developmental phase. Two associated motets follow this Mass: "Rite Maiorem" and "Ecclesiae Militantis."

Alejandro Planchart, a premier Dufay scholar, expertly conducts the Capella Cordina in this 1974 performance. The combination of male and female voices with period instruments (such as viol, recorder, and sackbut) achieves a rich, visceral quality often lacking in modern performances of Renaissance Music. The tasteful instrumental accompaniment provides texture without overwhelming the vocals.

Lyrichord Discs would do well to consider reissuing this CD; it's the Holy Grail of Dufay recordings.

There is a case to be made for instrumental accompaniment of polyphonic masses, though many musicologists are hostile to it, but there is no musical or historical justification for the kind of mixed consort used on this CD. The viol da gamba, for instance, hadn't even been invented in the lifetime of Dufay. Aside from such purisms, however, this is an out-of-date amateurish version of Dufay -- "early" Early Music, around 1974. It should be retired. If you want to hear where the art has arrived in the meantime, choose any disk by The Orlando Consort, Ensemble Organum, Ensemble Officium, The Clerks' Group, Capella Alamire, Ensemble Clement Janequin. There are NO well-done CDs of Dufay era masses with instruments; I say this with utmost sadness, since I am an instrumentalist.