Franco-Flemish Record Review, part 2

The second disc in this box of thirty-four is also by the Ensemble Gilles Binchois and it contains the music that accompanied a very famous European banquet "Le Banquet du Voeu" of 1454, known in English as the "Feast of the Pheasant." Here is a contemporary painting of some of the participants.

Click to enlarge

Just a few months before, in 1453, the Ottoman Empire had finally conquered the Byzantine Empire, whose last remaining territory was the capital of Constantinople. This was the end of the Eastern Roman Empire and a major turning point in the history of Western Europe as scholars from Constantinople, Greek-speaking, brought a wealth of ancient manuscripts to the West, one of the sparks that initiated the Renaissance in Northern Italy. At the time, the great cathedral in Constantinople, the Hagia Sophia, was the largest church in Christendom and would be until the completion of the Seville Cathedral in 1520.

The Banquet of the Pheasant, given by Philip the Good of Burgundy, was to promote a crusade against the Turks. As the time of crusades was rather over, it never took place. But the banquet remains one of the famous ones in European history and there are a number of accounts of it, including lists of the music which included anonymous pieces as well as music by Guillaume Duffy, Gilles Binchois, and several others. Dufay and Binchois were the most-represented.

Honestly, the historical context is slightly more interesting than the music on this disc, but it is entertainingly diverse and well-played. We even get a cornemuse solo. The recording dates from 1991.

Disc 3 is titled "Dufay and Binchois: The Art of Courtly Love, the Court of Burgundy." The performers are The Early Music Consort of London, the first generation of specialist performers and include David Munro, James Bowman, Alan Lumsden, James Tyler, and Christopher Hogwood along with many others! It kicks off with some jolly springtime music by Dufay. Later on we get the motet Lamentation Sanctae Matris Ecclesiae Constantinopolitanae, also by Dufay, lamenting the loss of the Hagia Sophia. I suspect you could write quite a clever historical novel called The Two Churches about the Hagia Sophia and the Duomo of Florence, turning points in the 15th century. Also on the disc are some lovely chansons and ballades by Binchois. For contrast there are also two anonymous basse danses.

The recording dates from 1973 and was recorded at Abbey Road.

Here is the Dufay Lamentatio from the disc:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpKSnqtfd0A