NOTES (FRA)

C’est un riche recueil d’œuvres polyphoniquesmédiévales et de chant grégorien illustrant lathématique de l’arbre de Jessé, que nous offrentDominique Vellard et son Ensemble GillesBinchois : les musiciens transmettent les textesbibliques avec une clarté qui évoque lacomplexité et les couleurs resplendissantes desmanuscrits et de leurs enluminures, et la vigueuret la ferveur du vitrail gothique. Les personnagesde la Bible acquièrent une vie nouvelle : Job,Jonas, Salomon, Rachel, Balaam ou Moïse,s’inscrivent dans la généalogie du Christcontenue dans le Nouveau Testament.L’enregistrement a été réalisé dans unemerveilleuse église du sud de la Bourgogne.

Les qualités vocales de Dominique Vellard,inspirées des traditions orales et écrites d’Orientet d’Occident, brillent une fois encore dans cetenregistrement si attendu, qui fera trèscertainement les délices des très nombreuxadmirateurs de l’Ensemble Gilles Binchois.L’enthousiasme renouvelé et la grande énergiede l’ensemble, flagrantes dans cet Arbre deJessé (où l’on apprécie l’exploration de la beauténaturelle du son), seront l’un des piliers ducatalogue de Glossa des prochaines années ;les musiciens nous ont promit de faire desincursions dans la grande polyphonie du XVIesiècle, allant jusqu’au début du répertoirebaroque.

NOTIZEN (DEU)

Mit einer reichen Auswahl mittelalterlicherpolyphoner Werke und gregorianischer Choräle,die sich mit dem Thema der Wurzel Jessebeschäftigen, lenken Dominique Vellard und dasEnsemble Gilles Binchois ihre Aufmerksamkeitauf biblische Texte. Dies geschieht mit einerDurchsichtigkeit, die an die Komplexitätilluminierter Handschriften, die Lebendigkeit vonKirchenfenstern und die lebhaften Farben beidererinnert. Hier werden die Geschichten biblischerPersonen wie Hiob, Jona, Salomon, Rachel,Bileam und Mose zu neuem Leben erweckt,ebenso wie die Genealogie Christi aus demNeuen Testament. Die Aufnahme entstand ineiner schönen Kirche im Süden von Burgund. Dominique Vellard, der sich sowohl in denmündlich als auch in den schriftlich überliefertenTraditionen aus Ost und West bestens auskennt,glänzt mit seinen überragenden vokalenFähigkeiten abermals in einer sehnlichsterwarteten Aufnahme, zur großen Freude derzahlreichen Bewunderer des Ensembles GillesBinchois. Durch die noch verstärkte Begeisterungund den gesteigerten Elan – auf der CD L’Arbrede Jessé überdeutlich hörbar – und durch dieErkundung der Schönheit und Natürlichkeit desKlanges dieses Ensembles stellt die Aufnahmejetzt schon einen Höhepunkt der von Glossafür die nächsten Jahre angekündigtenEinspielungen dar, die sich auch in die Musikdes Frühbarock und in die große Polyphoniedes 16. Jahrhunderts vorwagen werden.

NOTAS (ESP)

A través de una rica selección de obraspolifónicas medievales y de canto gregorianoque ilustran la temática del Árbol de Jesé,Dominique Vellard y su Ensemble Gilles Binchoistransmiten los textos bíblicos con una claridadque recuerda la complejidad de los manuscritosiluminados, la vitalidad de las vidrieras góticasy los fuertes colores de ambos. Así, adquierennueva vida las historias de personajes de laBiblia como Job, Jonás, Salomón, Raquel,Balaam o Moisés, al lado de la genealogía deCristo incluida en el Nuevo Testamento, en unagrabación realizada en una hermosa iglesiasituada en el sur de Borgoña.

Las cualidades vocales del propio DominiqueVellard, ancladas en tradiciones orales y escritasde Oriente y Occidente, destacan de nuevo enesta esperadísima grabación que sin duda harálas delicias de los muchísimos admiradores delEnsemble Gilles Binchois. El renovadoentusiasmo y la gran energía del conjunto, tanaudibles en este L’Arbre de Jessé en el queademás se aprecia el esfuerzo realizado porexplorar la belleza natural del sonido, formaránuno de los focos principales del catálogo deGlossa a lo largo de los próximos años, conincursiones prometidas en la gran polifonía delsiglo XVI e incluso en el primer Barroco.

www.glossamusic.com

L’Arbre de JesséGregorian chant and medieval polyphony

Ensemble Gilles BinchoisDominique VellardAnne Delafosse, sopranoAnne-Marie Lablaude, sopranoGerd Türk, tenorDominique Vellard, tenorJosep Cabré, baritone

Glossa PlatinumGCD P32302

Programme

01 Vox in Rama02 Benedictus es03 Cantemus Domino04 Submersus jacet Pharao05 Balaam inquit06 Alleluia In exitu Israel07 Vir erat08 Salve mater09 Peccavimus10 Lectio Jonæ prophetæ cum cantico11 Qui pro nobis12 Rex Salomon13 Sequencia sancti evangelii secundum Lucam14 Stirps Jesse florigeram

Production details

Playing time: 68’35

Recorded at Église de Mont-Saint-Vincent,France, in June and July 2008Engineered by Robert VerguetMastered by Pierre de ChampsProduced by Etienne MeyerExecutive producer: Carlos Céster

Design: Valentín IglesiasBooklet essay: Marie-Noël ColetteEnglish Français Deutsch Español

L’Arbre de JesséEnsemble Gilles Binchois

GCD P32302New release informationDecember 2008

NOTES (ENG)

With a rich display of medieval polyphonicworks and Gregorian chant illustrating thetheme of the Tree of Jesse, Dominique Vellardand the Ensemble Gilles Binchois turn theirattention to biblical texts with a clarity thatcalls to mind the intricacy of illuminatedmanuscripts, the vitality of stained-glasswindows and the bold colours of both. Broughtto life here are stories of characters from theBible such as Job, Jonah, Solomon, Rachel,Balaam and Moses alongside the New Testamentgenealogy of Christ, the recording made in abeautiful church in the South of Burgundy.

Dominique Vellard’s own vocal prowess, steepedin oral as well as written traditions from bothEast and West shines out anew in a much-awaited recording set to delight the legion offans of the Ensemble Gilles Binchois. Theredoubled enthusiasm and energy of theEnsemble Gilles Binchois, so audible on L’Arbrede Jessé, along with the group’s exploration ofthe beauty and naturalness of sound are setto form a highlight of Glossa’s releases overcoming years with promised forays into theearly Baroque and the great polyphony of the16th century.

www.glossamusic.com

An interview withDominique Vellard

After nearly three decades of carvingout a niche (as rich as Romanesquestatuary found in the Burgundy wherehe lives and works), DominiqueVellard has returned with a newvigour for performing (andrecording), whether it is with hiscolleagues from the Ensemble GillesBinchois or as a solo singer. The tenorvoice of this deeply-thinking musicianhas the capacity to explore andexplain the messages and subtletiesof liturgical traditions that range farbeyond the Western tradition.

Glossa has already welcomedDominique Vellard and his ensemblewith a recording devoted to his owncompositions – Vox nostra resonet –but now has had the opportunity tocapture the sound and interpretationsof the group in repertory that theyhave made their own: the bringingtogether of the earliest polyphony,including pieces from the École deNotre-Dame de Paris and the Écolede Saint-Martial de Limoges alongsideGregorian chant; all as a means toexpress the Biblical messages. Therecording comes with an informedarticle by another of Vellard’s long-term collaborators, the scholar Marie-Noël Colette.

Despite – perhaps because of – thisdepth of experience L’Arbre de Jesséis neither a reflection of showvirtuosity nor of a tightly-drilled choralensemble, as Dominique Vellardexplains in describing – for him – theimportance of text and music.

You have been performing medieval musicover the ensemble’s history, but how hasthis developed recently?

I have been putting much effort into trying tounderstand what the music represents, workingalongside musicologists such as Marie-NoëlColette, learning from her knowledge of therepertory and its notation, so that progressivelythe music becomes more and more part of me.Increasingly I can use all this as though it hadbeen taught to me in an oral way – as thoughI had learnt it as a child and now can do itwithout having to think about it. It is like beingpart of a living tradition and I have also spenttime listening to oral music traditions such asfrom India, Islamic countries, Coptic and Jewishmusic. Now, I think that our performances arestronger because I can ask my colleagues toperform the music in a much more natural way,not as a form of historical reconstruction. Thuswe have a new conception of this music –involving a more integrated and matured affektand attitude to sound – and I am very happyto be able to express it for the first time withthe recording L’Arbre de Jessé.

The Tree of Jesse is an unusual theme fora CD. Why did you become interested init?

I was interested in all these Old Testamentcharacters who each in their own way provideda foreshadowing of the figure of Christ. But itwas also an opportunity to present compositionsthat we have been defending for a long timeand strongly connected with my musical life.And they are works which I believe have a verystrong musical and artistic effect, such as theBenedictus es – the Canticle of the Three YoungMen (a long but very strong piece) or CantemusDomino or the genealogy (Sequencia sanctievangelii secundum Lucam).

Why are the texts of the chants andpolyphonic works on this recording soimportant for you?

The reason is that Biblical texts such as theseinvolved stories from a saint or a prophet (oran invocation or a prayer) that were writtendown in order to be proclaimed to the people.What is important in the musical pieces whenthey are sung – and especially so given thatthey are in Latin – is that they provide morethan just the intellectual message of the text.Suddenly the piece takes life: the discoursethat is going on has a stronger power, simplybecause you can hear it. As a parallel, considerthe text for Martin Luther King’s public speech,“I have a Dream”. If you merely read it through,it is a very beautiful text but when you hearthis strong man proclaiming his words, theeffect is a hundred times stronger. And for me,these musical pieces on this record are likethat. It is the same effect as when you see thesun shining through stained-glass windows ina church (whether they are in Chartres Cathedralor even with modern windows): suddenly allthe colours are singing.

After 30 years as a group together, howdoes the Ensemble Gilles Binchois workas a group?

In the past it was as though I was teachingcourses in singing and interpretation throughmy ensemble and the result was not what Iam after, because this music – such as onL’Arbre de Jessé – needs to represent the powerof the people. My role with my colleagues nowis to allow them to express their own personalityand their own comprehension of the music –they are all independent artists in their ownright. Thus, as a director I only get involved ifsome mistakes are made. My role cannot existas a product of teaching at the point of givinga concert or making a recording – and in anycase this music has no mensuration, soconducting would be somewhat out of place!Whilst I can hand on to them knowledge aboutthe understanding of the music – my own orthat of scholars such as Wulf Arlt or Marie-NoëlColette – the delivery of that knowledgeexpressed artistically must be made by thesingers themselves. If you don’t allow theinstincts of the musicians to work, the musicbecomes very heavy and you miss the life ofthe melody, the life of the music itself. Also,on this recording I have purposefully avoidedusing a large group because the pieces canonly be sung by one, two or three people; nomore than that. Otherwise it starts to soundlike a “choralization”. I believe that such a“chorus mentality” is very dangerous for suchmedieval music. We do not exist in an oraltradition and what we have to do is to studythe notation and understand deeply what themusic means. And then let our instincts takeover.

And into what other directions are younow taking your music-making?

What is important for me now in all the repertorythat I work with – in the court music butespecially in music for the church – is to lookfor and hopefully find the right connectionsheld within the music: what is important as faras questions such as the sound, the phrasingare concerned. To me the beauty andnaturalness of the sound are extremelyimportant in church music, because theydescribe its power. Because of this I no longerperform some music which I used to findinteresting but where I cannot find this strength.Now I do not have to prove anything, but whatis important for me is to carry on with repertoriesthat I wish to defend – chants, some aspectsof the early polyphonies and some composersfrom the 15th and 16th centuries. Two importantconsiderations for me are the repertory of theensemble, whether it is Dufay or Machaut orgreat polyphony such as by Josquin Desprezor Francisco de Peñalosa, and my own desireto carry on as a solo singer. The next plannedrecording reflects the latter desire with aprogramme called Motets croisés which featuressolo motets by Monteverdi, Schütz and by Jean-Pierre Leguay. The idea is to explore theexpressivity of the Kleines Konzert form withjust two performers. Jean-Pierre plays theorgan, also adding his own improvisations.

by Mark Wiggins© 2008 Glossa Music / MusiContact

“It is the same effect as when you see the sun shining through stained-glass windows in a church:suddenly all the colours are singing.”