Label: Another Timbre

素晴らしい内容です!!英Another TimbreのオーナーSimon Reynellが個人的趣味で始動した古楽リリースのプロジェクト!!ルネサンス時代のフランドル楽派の作曲家であるニコラ・ゴンベールが書いた、ポリフォニーによる宗教曲モテット7曲とシャンソン1曲を器楽用にアレンジした大変興味深い作品。ゴンベールの音楽はポリフォニーの複雑さで知られており、演奏はお馴染みの強者アンサンブルであるアパートメントハウスが担当。濃い密度を強調しつつメランコリックな形に仕上げています。









Seven beautiful, melancholic motets and a chanson by Renaissance composer Nicolas Gombert, arranged for instruments by James Weeks, who also composed the interludes.

"One of the least expected and most beautiful records we are likely to hear this year." (Clive Bell)

Gombert's music was renowned for the complexity of its polyphony, and these realisations, played by leading experimental ensemble Apartment House, emphasise the layered density of the music, while trying to take it as far away as possible from its origins as choral church music.

The album is a personal project initiated by label owner Simon Reynell, a long-term fan of early music. Composer James Weeks also straddles the worlds of both early and contemporary music, and his 'media vita' interludes act as resting points between Gombert's intricate pieces.

One of the bonus items which comes with the music is a pdf of an extended discussion about the project between Reynell and Weeks in which they discuss different approaches to the performance of early music, the brutal world of 16th century Europe from which the music sprung, and the ethics of promoting the music of a composer who did awful things.

You can also read Clive Bell's excellent feature article about the album on another of the bonus items.