Gramophone Magazine
July 2018
Editor's Choice

Gothic Voices

Dufay: Ce jour de l'an
Dufay: Vasilissa, Ergo Gaude
Dufay: Entre vous, gentils amoureux
Dufay: Et pour certain
Dufay: Je requier a tous amoureux
Dufay: Je vous pri
Dufay: Je me complains piteusement
Dufay: Las, que feray?
Dufay: Ce jour de l'an
Dufay: O sancte Sebastiane
Dufay: Se la face ay pale
Dufay: Se la phase pale (Buxheimer Orgelbuch)
Dufay: Vergene bella
Dufay: Salve flos Tusce gentis
Dufay: Portugaler
Dufay: Ecclesiae militantis
Dufay: Resveilliés vous et faites chiere lye
Dufay: Apostolo glorioso
Dufay: Ce jour de l'an
Dufay: Mon bien, m'amour
Dufay: Quel fronte signorille in paradiso
Dufay: Estrinez moy, je vous estrineray
Dufay: Ce jour de l'an
Dufay: Puisque vous estez campieur
Dufay: Ce jour de l'an

Following its Linn debut which saw the ‘revitalisation of an iconic group’ (Choir & Organ), Gothic Voices presents The Dufay Spectacle, featuring special guest Andrew Lawrence-King.

In a pageant of versatility featuring France’s greatest pre-Renaissance composer we enter the world of a grand New Year’s Day wedding feast, full of optimism and vision, tempered by playful emotional hardship, the music teasingly exploring the relationship between both, solemnised with some of Dufay’s greatest motets and a festive use of instruments to mark the splendour of the occasion.

From this final flourish of the mediaeval era we hear in Dufay’s quintessential Burgundian virtuosity how its musical richness has reached the point when it is about to burst into the new artistry and ideas of the Renaissance.

The Dufay Spectacle celebrates this artist’s genius with an eclectic show of frolicking and passionate robustness, plaintive devotional ardour, now with slow, dark rhythms, now upbeat cascades of melody, and thrilling complex rhythms. As the central chanson rings out its New Year’s promise ce jour de l’an is indeed a day to celebrate.

"It looks very much as though Julian Podger is the presiding genius; and he has chosen the repertory very well...[the five motets are] presented in what seem to me the most intelligent and musically transparent performances...To mention all the glorious details here would break the banks of this review but I cannot avoid mentioning the marvellously experienced singing of Catherine King and her duetting with Steven Harrold: that is seriously classy." - Gramophone Magazine, July 2018