Sometimes a disc’s title can be just a bit too clever for its own good. From a glance at this disc’s cover, with its title “Le Chant de Virgile”, you’d never know that it contained first class works by Josquin, Senfl, Lassus, Mouton, Willaert, and Cipriano de Rore, among others. Sure, when you read the fine print on the reverse side of the disc packaging, you discover that the program is a celebration of Renaissance works whose texts are drawn from “Virgil, Horace, and Catullus”–but why not make this clear from the outset? Perhaps because when you see the name Huelgas-Ensemble and Paul Van Nevel you know this is going to be a top-quality production, and fans of this group will not hesitate to grab it on the basis of reputation alone. And from the first few minutes of this fine recording, you’re not disappointed, as Josquin’s rich-textured Dulces exuviae sets the tone for the invariably satisfying experience to follow. As it turns out, this text, Dido’s monologue from Virgil’s Aeneid, was a popular one, and the Huelgas-Ensemble offers us no less than six different settings.
As we expect, this vocal ensemble and attendant instrumentalists (viols and flutes) entertain us with sonically vibrant, intonationally impeccable, vocally exemplary performances, bringing some relatively unknown motets, songs, and dialogues to life–especially the anonymous, early (14th-century) Lamech, Judith et Rachel and the eight-part, 16th-century Virons, m’amye et l’amour poursuyvons by Dominique Phinot. Other surprises include the sophisticated writing displayed in Jakob Vaet’s conception of the “Dulces exuviae” text and the astonishing setting of the same text by Theodoricus Gerarde. The sound reaches the saturation point in some of the heavier-textured pieces, but in general (listen to the ending of the Vaet) it’s full-bodied, resonant, and well-balanced across voice parts and instrumental accompaniments.
