QUADRIVIUM Motets by Guillaume Dufay
Cantica Symphonia Giuseppe Maletto
GCD P31901
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Performing artists
Cantica SymphoniaGiuseppe Maletto, director
Alena Dantcheva, soprano & harp Laura Fabris, soprano Maria Teresa Nesci, soprano Gianluca Ferrarini, tenor & organ Fabio Furnari, tenor Giuseppe Maletto, tenor Marco Scavazza, baritone
Guido Magnano, organMarta Graziolino, harp Svetlana Fomina, fiddle Efix Puleo, fiddle Mauro Morini trumpet & sackbut David Yacus, sackbut
with Sveva Martin, soprano Livio Cavallo, tenor Margret Köll, harp Davide Rebuffa, lute
Production details
Playing time: 77’49 Recorded at Chiesa del Colletto, Roletto, Italy, in August and December 2004 Engineered by Davide Ficco Produced by Sigrid Lee Executive producer: Carlos Céster Editorial assistant: María Díaz Cover design & illustrations: oficina tresminutos 00:03:00 Booklet essays: Guido Magnano and Giuseppe Maletto Booklet in English-Français-Deutsch
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Commercial release sheet (PDF)
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GUILLAUME DUFAY (c.1397-1474)
Motets (vol. 1)
1 Salve flos Tuscae gentis 2 Apostolo glorioso, da Dio electo 3 Imperatrix angelorum 4 Alma Redemptoris Mater (I) 5 Gaude Virgo, Mater Christi 6 Ecclesiae militantis 7 Anima mea liquefacta est 8 Vasilissa, ergo gaude 9 Salve Regina 10 Inclita stella maris 11 Alma Redemptoris Mater (II) 12 Balsamus et munda cera 13 Juvenis qui puellam 14 Flos florum15 Nuper rosarum flores
About this CD
The cube made with matches which appears on the cover of this disc, showing on flames in the inside of the digipak and afterwards completely burnt, plays with the ideas that inspire this dazzling recording: the four ways to the knowledge of numbers through the Quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy), which are expressed through something as ephemeral assound, where also the unexpected and the emotion of the moment take place.
A long essay by Guido Magnano introduces us to the fascinating world of numeric relationships, tunings and architecture applied to music, concepts that we discover, in all their magnificence, in the music of Guillaume Dufay. Let us just remember that Dufay put music to the consecration of the awesome cathedral of Florence, with that marvellous dome built by Brunelleschi that today, after more than five hundred years, still overwhelms us with its immense beauty. This work of art rendered by Cantica Symphonia, one of the best kept secrets of the performing elite of these beginnings of the 21st century, is a truly moving experience.
On this recording, approached from the beginning as a great tribute to science, Dufay’s motets sound as they never did before, with the wise incorporation of instruments where the score is claiming them, with that perfection engraved with humanity that only the greatest can transmit, with a music and an interpretation that are far beyond the fashions of the moment. A full celebration of the eternal expressed through the ephemeral...
For many years Cantica Symphonia has devoted much performing, musicological and recording energy over the music of the French composer Guillaume Dufay. Born at the dawn of the 15th century, Dufay’s musical career looked back to medieval conventions and forward to the early Renaissance. He was a much-travelled figure and was regularly present as musician, composer and emissary of church and secular powers at the many Ecumenical Councils held by the Roman Catholic Church during these turbulent political times. Dufay was often called on to write motets for important occasions such as the dedication of the Duomo of Florence – Nuper rosarum flores – or an especially critical meeting between the Pope, Eugenius IV and the Emperor, Sigismund – Supremum est mortalibus bonum (the names of both these two are to be found within the words of the motet). [read more...]