Machaut: Messe de Notre Dame / The Hilliard Ensemble

Hearing or performing music comes closest in the range of human activity to a visceral connection to the past. As long as we have notation and knowledge of how to interpret it, we can effectively experience something like our ancestors did when they sang the same music. Of course, our 20th-century sensibilities and knowledge--or lack thereof--prevent us from sharing identical responses, but as with the music on this disc, when we hear it we are in some way transported to another place. We know a completely different sound world from our own; we know that the accepted order of certain things was different. And we also know that in many ways people haven't changed. Machaut's music conveys a spirituality--both joyful and contemplative--that's as true in its impact as it must have been 600 years ago, a point made ever so clearly by these especially vibrant and vital performances. --David Vernier Amazon.com

Ethereal

Whether a devotee of early music and polyphony or just someone looking for beautiful relaxing music, it would be hard to go wrong with any recording of the Hilliard Ensemble. This is one of their finest. Machaut was a defining voice of late medieval music and is here afforded a quietly joyous treatment by a world class group. The Hilliards are apparently named after Nicolas Hilliard, an Elizabethean court painter noted for his beautiful small portraits, and thus are aptly called as their performances too are exquisite miniatures. March 2, 2006

A fine CD, but...

I heard a live performance (on NPR) of the music of this CD, and then bought the CD. I was a little bit disappointed, but not much. I treasure this CD of the first great polyphonic mass in the history of music. It's just that the virtuosic angular ornamentation in the CD was even more angular and virtuosic in the live performance. So I know that this music could be done just a bit better by this ensemble than this CD shows. But it's still a fine CD, containing a convincing performance of music that has far more than simply historic interest. January 6, 2002

The World of Machaut

The Mediaeval Frenchman Guillaume de Machaut is one of those composers who shaped the course of musical history most significantly. He wrote some of the earliest known polyphonic pieces of vocal music, as well as writing astonishing poetry for his own semi-sacred songs or 'lais.' On this disc, the Hilliard Ensemble present three of his most representative works, all well worth exploring.
The "Messe de Nostre Dame" (not specifically written for performance in the Paris Cathedral of that name) is a stunning piece with which to open the programme. The impeccably clear-toned voices of the Hilliards etch out Machaut's austere lines with blazing intensity, revelling in the strangely dissonant cadences and dexterous interplay of parts that are the hallmarks of his polyphony. The performers use a quaint form of pronunciation for the Latin, one that (supposedly) re-creates the Mediaeval French flavour with which the listeners of seven centuries ago would have been familiar. This work alone is worth the price of the disc: it makes for rewarding and memorable listening.
The "Lai de la Fonteine" is a simpler work, yet strangely harder to grasp on first hearing. Machaut sets his own text here: a complicated and extensive hymn in praise of the Virgin Mary, using endless metaphors and subtle imagery to create an advanced form of poetry around which music is woven. The music itself is quite simple, doing seemingly little more than to carry the poetry for the listener: much of it is monophonic, with verses being shared amongst three singers who come together for polyphonic sections every so often. The work is best heard complete; much is lost in sampling it although the tracks are conveniently divided to give the listener a choice in the matter. Machaut was clearly a mysterious person - religious yet close to the secular; it shows through in such works as this 'lai.'
The disc closes with a final example of rich-blooded polyphony, again using just three voices, and moreover a sample of Machaut's extraordinary genius. "Ma fin est mon commencement" sets a poem that is crafted as a sort of palindrome (indeed, the second phrase is "et mon commencement est ma fin" - "My end is my beginning and my beginning is my end"). The music is equally well crafted to counterpart the words - three voices, winding their way through repetitive and yet fluid lines as if through some sort of musical jigsaw puzzle. It is a delightful end to a wonderful programme. If you're looking for a sample of Machaut but can only afford one disc, then this has to be the one. Mediaeval music is rarely so well displayed as it is here! August 30, 2001

Excellent Recording

The Hilliard Ensemble provide an excellent performance of these works, as is typical of their craft. The Notre Dame Mass is really one of the 'standards' of 'early music,' and should not be missed. This is a definitive recording of the work. Don't look any further. June 21, 2000

Outstanding!

On this recording, I most enjoyed Le Lai de la Fonteinne and the rondeau Ma Fin Est Mon Commencement. The Messe, while impeccable, was a bit too esoteric for me. But the other two pieces, which sounded somewhat akin to Machaut's secular compositions in rhythmic and melodic structure, were compatible even with tastes as unsophisticated as mine. By the way, an excellent collection of Machaut's courtly music was recorded by David Munrow, that's how I know what it sounded like. The Hilliard's performance, as usual, is flawless. I love their ethereal voices - so light, so clear, and yet so exact in focus and projection! Each voice sounds somewhat standardized (of all the people that ever sang with the Hilliard, I can readily recognize only David James and Mark Padmore), but at this level of accomplishment uniformity is good. Definitely buy this, it is one of the best Hilliard recordings. But the very best Hilliard recording (in my amateur view anyway, although at least one of the Gramophone editors seems to agree) is Dunstable Motets (reissued on Virgin Veritas). David James sounds like no countertenor ever sounded before or after, including himself. Paul Elliott outdoes himself. Listening to him sing Agnus Dei practically makes one feel for the moment that he outdoes not just himself but every other male vocalist on the British Isles. That is the recording you don't want to miss! Believe me, you'll forget to breathe when you hear it. Of the secular things with some of the Hilliard members don't miss John Gay The Beggar's Opera (w/Paul Elliott) and Charpentier Medee (w/Mark Padmore). March 24, 1999

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