As with the other discs of vocal music in Harmonia Mundi's Century: A History of Music series, it's a shame that this one includes no song texts. For the newcomer, at whom such a series is presumably aimed, there's no better anchor than knowing what the performers are singing about. But for that, this disc offers a nearly ideal introduction to the secular song of the second half of the Renaissance. Notes clearly explain and performances pleasingly illustrate the major genres -- the Franco-Flemish chanson, the Italian ...
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As with the other discs of vocal music in Harmonia Mundi's Century: A History of Music series, it's a shame that this one includes no song texts. For the newcomer, at whom such a series is presumably aimed, there's no better anchor than knowing what the performers are singing about. But for that, this disc offers a nearly ideal introduction to the secular song of the second half of the Renaissance. Notes clearly explain and performances pleasingly illustrate the major genres -- the Franco-Flemish chanson, the Italian madrigal, and the English madrigal and lute song -- and show how they are related. Harmonia Mundi's "Why and How" dialogues give an admirably concise introduction to the external factors that shaped the repertoire: music printing, the musical culture of the Medici house, the revival of ancient Greek and Roman thought. And rather than focusing on Josquin, Byrd, and one or two other great composers, there is a generous enough spread to allow the new listener to get an idea of stylistic...
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