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Reviewer:
Edward Breen There are, however, two things I find slightly dissatisfying with these performances. The first is demonstrated most obviously in Domine ad adiuvandum me festina. The snappy rhythmic character of the work is neither introduced nor supported by the instrumentalists, who play both first and throughout. The singers use clear, straightforward phrasing and unwavering intonation, which highlights the flaccid instrumental phrasing and air of indecisiveness that surrounds them. There are several examples of such disconnect between vocal and instrumental approaches on this disc and it strikes me as a central requirement of polyphonic textures that a unified approach is established from the outset. In Domine ad adiuvandum me festina the recorder’s ‘expressive’ intonation feels at odds with the clarity and rhythmic definition of the singers, and the result is a vaguely unsettling mismatch. My second, more subjective criticism is that I find the plucked string sounds – although initially attractive, particularly in Nicolaus de Radom’s Ballade and Johannes Holandrinus’s Virelai – lose charm and bristle with fidgety energy when used repeatedly. Fittingly, one of the finest performances on this disc is of the motet that first yielded Petrus Wilhelmi’s name. In an all-vocal performance, Petrus’s textures are rich, sonorous and rather old-fashioned for their time. Kyrie: Fons bonitatis shows Petrus in a more ‘modern’ guise and the singers at their most sumptuous. |
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