John Dunstaple: Musician to the Plantagenets

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Just how important was early-15th-century English composer John Dunstaple (also spelled Dunstable)? This recording's liner notes have a provocative answer: "He was the most influential English composer outside England before the Beatles." Well, there are no guitars or love songs here--only voices and exclusively sacred music--but it's some of the most glorious church music you'll find anywhere. Its transparent textures are laced with dazzling harmonies and lively rhythmic passages. The music responds especially well to this perfectly configured and balanced ensemble of four male voices--countertenor, two tenors, and bass, supplemented on some works by two additional tenors. They achieve a wonderfully vibrant resonance that gives the music an almost palpable presence. Included is a newly discovered canon that hasn't been heard for 500 years--a spectacular addition to this must-have early music recording. --David Vernier

Tracks:

Descendi in ortum meum
Ave maris stella
Gloria in canon
Speciosa facta es
Sub tuam protectionem
Veni sancte spiritus
Albanus roseo rutilat
Specialis virgo
Preco preheminencie
O crux gloriosa
Salve regina mater mire
Missa Rex seculorum: Gloria
Missa Rex seculorum: Credo
Missa Rex seculorum: Missa Rex Seculorum- Sanctus
Missa Rex seculorum: Missa Rex Seculorum - Agnus Dei

Amazon.com

Just how important was early-15th-century English composer John Dunstaple (also spelled Dunstable)? This recording's liner notes have a provocative answer: "He was the most influential English composer outside England before the Beatles." Well, there are no guitars or love songs here--only voices and exclusively sacred music--but it's some of the most glorious church music you'll find anywhere. Its transparent textures are laced with dazzling harmonies and lively rhythmic passages. The music responds especially well to this perfectly configured and balanced ensemble of four male voices--countertenor, two tenors, and bass, supplemented on some works by two additional tenors. They achieve a wonderfully vibrant resonance that gives the music an almost palpable presence. Included is a newly discovered canon that hasn't been heard for 500 years--a spectacular addition to this must-have early music recording. --David Vernier

Customer Reviews:

Dunstable and Egyption art.......2002-10-13

Dunstable is the dawn of renaissance music with its glow and dewy freshness. To compare Dunstable to Dufay may be liken Schubert to Mozart. The latter is more symmetrical and apollonian. Dunstable's music can "overflow" like the Nile. Indead, if Dufay is Greek, Dunstable is Egyption. For example his broad, static, and reposeful harmonies can be liken to Egyption art. Or to a river where the harmonies proceed going from one current to another. The partwriting is more "spatial" less "linear", so while intricacy isn't lacking, it is less prominant than in medeival France. As a curioso, the Egyptions were the ancient masters of astronomy and math and Dunstable was an astronomer and mathematican. There is an impersonal and expansive quality to their artistry. Yet no renassaisance music I know of surpasses it in warmth, sponteniety and noble simplicity.

The Orlando Consorts sings with marvelous feeling and clarity.
It is a dream comming true to those who want to know Dunstable.
The Hilliard disc. of Dunstable is superb too. Both are highly recommended.

A valuable experience.......2000-06-14

This recording is the only experience I have with Dunstable. His music is very hard to find; it's available in little snippets on various recordings, but as far as I know there have only been 2 discs completely devoted to him: this disc and one by the Hilliard Ensemble. His relative obscurity can be explained in several ways: it probably has mostly to do with the very small amount of his music which still exists and his position in history as a composer in an idiom which we have little connection with. It's really a shame that he's so underrepresented, because his music is very good. I think the problem is a vicious circle: few listeners, even of early music, have much exposure to this early Renaissance/late medieval music, and as a result there is very little interest in recording it, so it stays in obscurity. Admittedly the music is esoteric: even as an avid listener to Renaissance music I find it hard to relate to. The harmony and sonority usually associated with Renaissance music (Palestrina, Victoria, Byrd) are largely not present here (I'm fairly certain that Dunstable is classified as a Medieval composer anyway). But there is definitely polyphony and harmony which denote transition from Medieval to Renaissance. The listening experience is difficult to describe; my first time listening to the disc I was underwhelemed. But I think the important step is to find the contemplational element; this idiom is a very beautiful one but one unlike most "classical" music - getting used to it takes awhile. You will find, though, a very different mindset in Dunstable. His approach is very mathematical (he was himself accomplished in the natural sciences) and very technical, but those things belie the importance of the music. Listening to the music requires contemplation, introspection, and reflection - not just an appreciation of the sound of the harmony (because this kind of harmony is largely foreign, to me at least).

The Orlando Consort sings with great skill. These singers are all quite experienced (a couple of them also sing with the Tallis Scholars and the rest are names familiar to me, though I can't remember right off hand which groups they're associated with). Their tone is good (the countertenor is not shrill), their balance excellent (although with only one voice on a part this is usually not that much of a problem). They blend very well and produce a great deal of warmth while maintaining focus as a whole and distinctiveness between the parts. The tempi and dynamics are good, preserving a sense of mystery and depth about the music. The Gramophone award was well deserved. Incidentally, I wish that the Hilliard Ensemble recording was not continually out of stock, because I'm very much a Hilliard fan and would like to hear that recording for purposes of comparison. Anyway, I can't, unfortunately, offer any comparative information between the two.

A splendid recording all around...

Exceptional.......1999-05-12

The Orlando Consort has won a Gramophone award for their marvelous interpretation of Dunstable. Dunstable's been really lucky: the Hilliard's recording of Dunstable motets (three of which overlap on both recordings) was also a Gramophone winner back in the early 80's. These are some of the best early music recordings ever made. Dunstable has a special voice, he's a real melodist. Don't miss either of these two recordings!!!

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