Machaut [CD]

Following the huge success of it's first Delos recording ('hallmark powdery blend and intonation so pure' - The New York Times), the GRAMMY Award-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer, under the leadership of Music Director Tim Keeler, is now turning to fourteenth-century's most celebrated composer Guillaume de Machaut. Although born in obscurity around 1300, Guillaume was to enjoy a stellar career that saw him hold various prestigious positions, including at the Cathedral of Reims. This album presents music from both facets of the composer's life, which today we might see as incompatible. With the Messe de Nostre Dame, we see Machaut the devout cleric of a major cathedral. Conversely, songs such as Douce dame jolie and Riches d'amour, among others, show Machaut the courtly poet-composer who sings of the emotional experience of secular love for his noble patrons.