COMPOSERS: Anonymous
LABELS: Decca Serenata
PERFORMER: Pro Cantione Antiqua, Landini Consort/Mark Brown
CATALOGUE NO: 433 731-2 ADD (1978)
Medieval revivals inevitably invoke questions of authenticity. Purist doubts may lurk beneath this forthright interpretation of the troubadour-inspired drama, but such an attractive recording would be hard to match. Soloists include many of the finest singers of their generation. There is a powerful sense of atmosphere. David Thomas’s Belshazzar is strong, the countertenor line in some interspersed Pérotin and the duet ‘Audite principes’ unbelievably lovely. Roderic Dunnett