Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377) was perhaps the first rock star composer—and partly because, in a very rock star way, he worked hard creating his own legend during his lifetime. He made sure his music survived by dedicating his last few years to making sure copies of his 'greatest hits' were dispersed around Europe, in collectors’ editions that demonstrated his dazzling technical facility. This album by the Orlando Consort features four singers—countertenor Matthew Venner, tenors Mark Dobell and Angus Smith, and baritone Donald Greig—but they never all sing together. There are pieces for one, two or three voices, in different permutations, which demonstrate Machaut’s skills as a polyphonist and also as a straightforward melodist. It is beautifully and eloquently sung—there is nowhere to hide with this few voices—and a good starting point for the music of Machaut. And for all that it sounds strange to our ears, it is less removed from today’s music than the writing of Machaut’s contemporary Geoffrey Chaucer is from today’s English.
The motets are three-voice pieces, which combine three texts simultaneously, in a virtuosic counterpoint that builds on a fragment of Gregorian chant. They are spread throughout the programme, from the opening number, Hareu, hareu! which depicts the fire in a lover’s heart with urgency to the stately procession of the finale Martyrum gemma latria. While the motets were designed for connoisseurs’ ears, the two voice pieces—virelais, rondeaus and ballades—are perhaps easier to grasp. They are mostly courtly love songs to Machaut’s own texts. In Je ne cuit pas, Venner’s countertenor praises Love with elaborate bouncy rhythms. Dous viaire gracious is more tender and tentative, Mark Dobell now on the top line, his line alternately twisting round Angus Smith’s, then coming together on the same note.
But for me, the best bits about this album are the solo voice songs, which are pure melody and utterly gorgeous. Diex, Biauté, Douceur, Nature is given with complete simplicity by Matthew Venner, while in Douce dame jolie Donald Greig is more steadfast and detached, and Mark Dobell in Liement me deport sings in the guise of a lover putting a brave face on his heartsickness. These solo numbers in particular speak across the centuries, but the pacing and sequencing of the album is great, making what should be a bit intimidating—an entire disc of just four voices—into a real treat.