Madrigals for a Tudor King

****
Very good singing indeed 10 Jan 2008

This disc has appeared on the Obsidian label, new to the music marketplace in 2007, but their first few offerings have been very well received in the press. Reading a little between the lines, it seems that Obsidian is the means by which Alamire, also a new entrant to the cut-throat world of early music, can get their recordings out into the wide world, but it would be entirely unfair to accuse this of being a vanity project: these are serious records of serious music for serious listeners, exploring parts of the repertoire that are poorly represented on disc.

This is not, however, to suggest that the music is of that variety which, when first you hear it, causes you to think "now I see why this has been left unrecorded for so long." It must be admitted that there is occasionally a habit among aficionados of square notes and Latin texts to confuse new discoveries with quality, but in this case the repertoire being presented is of genuine worth, and it is given sensitive and thoughtful performances.

Verdelot belongs to that generation of composers which have come somewhat into vogue in the past three or so years among the early music scene, as he lived between the two apparent golden ages of Renaissance music: those of Josquin and Palestrina. Both of those seams have been heavily mined by every ensemble out there: The Clerks Group have made outstanding discs of Josquin, Obrecht and Ockeghem; the Tallis Scholars have made Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli their own; and the Cardinall's Musick have given Byrd a truly memorable series of recordings. The period around 1520-1550, at least for music from Continental Europe, however, has been a little overlooked: in England the last of the great Catholic composers were enjoying their polyphonic heyday (think Taverner, Sheppard and Ludford), and much has been recorded from that time, but on the continent it is only really Gombert and Morales who from this period have attained any real fame in the modern era (and Gombert was only dragged out of the specialists' clutches by the Tallis Scholars in their relatively recent disc of his Magnificats.) As such, it would be fair to say that Philippe Verdelot's name is one which, although known to many who perform and listen to early music, is not rated alongside greater luminaries of his age.

And that is not to say that he deserves to be considered an equal to Tallis or Josquin, but that he wrote some very fine, very moving music which is very enjoyable indeed to listen to when sung by a good group such as Alamire. These madrigals are all very short (the longest is just over three and a half minutes) and set texts in Italian by Petrarch, Machiavelli and other lesser known writers. Some are for six voices, but most bring together fewer singers to the accompaniment of lute or harp. This allows for a very pleasing diversity of moods, sonorities and textures, demonstrating expressive solo singing and some expert ensemble work.

Alamire clearly are well-worth looking out for, especially if they continue producing discs of this interest and quality. A very worthwhile addition to your collection.