De Machaut: Sacred and Secular Music

The Mass and songs by Guillaume de Machaut are probably the earliest consistent body of work attributable to a single composer in the Western canon. As such, they form a foundation stone to centuries of both melody-oriented song and contrapuntal polyphony that come thereafter. They have their own rich recording history, too, from the gentle and sometimes pedestrian efforts of pioneering groups like Pro Musica Antiqua and the New York Pro Musica, through to the dynamic and swinging recordings of the Orlando Consort. The Ensemble Gilles Binchois is (as its name suggests) steeped in an idiom that requires a deal of research as well as vocal skill to master. So thorough a survey of Machaut's output is almost unrivalled in the current catalogue.