Machaut Station

Guillaume De Machaut The Mirror of Narcissus Rose, Liz, Rondeau For 4 Voices: Rose, Liz, Printemps, Verdure - Rondeau performed by: Gothic Voices

I believe we might have listened to this already in lecture or listening lab, as it sounds very familiar. I can hear some bold dissonances suspended for a couple of beats, which is neat. There is so much hocket in this piece it's just jumping out and biting me in the nose. The cadences of this time period seem so weak. I feel if it was not for the ritardando and silence afterward, it would be difficult even to identify the cadences. I can't say I prefer this piece to the Landini or the Dunstable.

Ah. Pandora is agian imperfect! This next piece on my Machaut station is labelled as Renaissance; I'm skipping that for a later date. Oh. and the next one is even by Dufay! What a goldmine! This is great evidence that Machaut is indeed one of the latest Medieval composers and Dufay is one of the first Renaissance composers.

Guillaume De Machaut: La Messe De Nostre Dame; Songs From Le Voir Dit performed by: Messe De Nostre Dame, Mass For 4 Voices: I. Kyrie:

This piece is quite smooth and soothing. The lyrics seem to be highly complicated. Just kidding. It's a Kyrie. It's difficult for me to pick out the chant line among four voices. I don't think I can do that yet. I don't really know what to say about this piece that's really unique except there seems to be a sort of refrain form. Agian, I'd love to go back and listen again to confirm that it is a rondo of sorts, but There is no rewind or back button, unfortunately. That is probably my biggest hesitation in these entries. I'm afraid to be wrong. These voices seem to move in a lot of oblique motion. The inner voices seem to have some parallelism to them. This must have been recorded in an acoustically wonderful venue, because when they cadence, the resonance goes on for days.