Francis I, as a princely patron of the arts, realised that music was a very useful tool for his policy of prestige: Official music for great diplomatic events like the amazing musical ‘tournament’ between the Chapelle of the King of France and the Chapel Royal of Henry VIII of England at the Mass for the Field of the Cloth of Gold, reconstructed in this recording; but also more intimate music with the exceptionally subtle, refined and learned repertory to be heard in the monarch’s châteaux such as Chambord and Fontainebleau, performed by the finest singers and instrumentalists of the realm under the aegis of the Chambre du Roi. Here is a feast of previously unrecorded music for King Francis I, the symbol of a happy Renaissance.
Judith Mesnil, interprète à l'UNESCO, est amenée à enquêter sur la mort prétendument accidentelle de l'écrivain Marcel Jaucourt dont on l'a chargée de rassembler les derniers écrits. Elle apprend que le défunt préparait un ouvrage sur certains nazis réfugiés en Amérique latine et avait découvert qu'un individu aux multiples identités leur procurait de faux passeports afin qu'ils puissent regagner l'Europe incognito.
The Brabant Ensemble continue their investigation into unknown jewels of the Low Countries Renaissance, researched by their director Stephen Rice and recorded with equal amounts of passion and erudition by the young singers of the group. Cipriano de Rore was and is principally known as a madrigal composer, and, as Stephen Rice writes, ‘blended the contrapuntal complexity of Low Countries polyphonic style with Italian poetic texts to create a newly expressive vernacular genre’. This recording represents something of a new departure in presenting some of the least well-known aspects of the output of a composer who is justly famous in other fields.