Image: Vittore Carpaccio, St. Augustine's vision
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Jachet de Mantoue, Lamentationes Jeremiae
Michael Lonsdale

On the back of the booklet of this recording are quoted my own words, published in Goldberg, concerning my wish that the Ensemble Jacquet de Mantoue’s first disc would be the first of many. Here I have my wish not only fulfilled, but my cup runneth over! Not only has the Ensemble chosen to record Jacquet’s beautiful Lamentations for Holy Week, but in addition the texts are superbly read in French by the actor Michael Lonsdale (I suspect that most British readers will recall him best from The Day of the Jackal). These come from the French translation of the Latin Bible (but with reference to the Greek) made by Jacques Lefèvre d’Etaples, published in Antwerp in 1530, and their stark beauty complements what one might call the "austere elaboration" of Jacquet’s music extremely well.

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 Prioris, Missa pro defunctis
Joris Verdin, Goldberg Magazine

This generous album, a well thought-out programme built with intelligence and sensitivity around two balanced halves, contains much more than the Missa pro defunctis by Johannes Prioris (c. 1460-1512/1514). The first part, entitled Vita, introduces the listener to beautiful motets in honour of the Virgin Mary; the second, Mors, is devoted to the Requiem.

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Dufay in Italy

Jerome F. Weber, Goldberg Magazine:

Dufay’s travels in Italy lasted almost 20 years and brought him to several important positions. This program takes several manuscripts that give evidence of his presence and lets us hear the music of the era. The manuscripts also include music of his contemporaries, so single works of Prepositus Brixiensis, Bartholomeus de Bononia, Bertrandus Ferraguti and Antonio da Cividale are included among the motets and other pieces of Dufay. Bartholomeus and Antonio are represented on an Orlando Consort disc and some earlier Arcana discs, but apart from those pieces there seem to be no recordings of these four composers or any of these works.

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        by novamatrix