BinchoisDufay

COMPOSERS: BinchoisDufay
LABELS: Hyperion
ALBUM TITLE: Dufay: Mass For St Anthony
WORKS: Mass movements; Domitor Hectoris; Nove antum melodie; Mass for St Anthony Abbot
PERFORMER: Binchois Consort/Andrew Kirkman
CATALOGUE NO: CDA 67474

Dufay and Binchois were both



associated with the magnificent 15thcentury



court of Burgundy. Much of



their music has already been recorded,



but among the items on this very



enterprising disc are some fascinating,



newly reconstructed pieces. These



include Binchois’s Nove cantum



melodie (written to celebrate the



birth of Anthony, heir to the duchy



of Burgundy, in 1431) and a piece



supposedly by Dufay, the Mass for



St Anthony Abbot found anonymously



in a manuscript from Trent.



In fact this last item, to my ears,



does not really sound like Dufay



(we are invited in the booklet notes



to make up our own minds), but



that does not matter here: the point



is that these singers are superbly



experienced in this kind of repertoire,



and they thrill us with supple lines of



the Alleluia, the vigour of the Credo



and the swirling counterpoint of



the Sanctus. Elsewhere the speed of



delivery becomes a little self-defeating;



they dash through the Binchois Kyrie



like a dose of salts, and the recording



occasionally produces a slightly



shrill edge to the high voice. These



singers are at their best, though, in



the Binchois Agnus – sustaining the



endless phrases with great continuity and musical sense. Anthony Pryer