Gramophone Magazine
January 2021
Editor's Choice

Orlando Consort

Machaut: S'il estoit nuls / S'Amours tous / Et gaudebit cor vestrum
Machaut: On ne porroit penser
Machaut: Dame, se vous m'estes lonteinne
Machaut: Moult sui de bonne heure nee
Machaut: Ne pensez pas, dame, que je recroie
Machaut: En demantant et lamentant
Machaut: Mes Esperis Se Combat
Machaut: J'aim sans penser laidure
Machaut: Ma fin est mon commencement, R14
Machaut: C'est force, faire le vueil
Machaut: Je puis trop bien ma dame comparer
Machaut: Tant doucement m'ont attrait / Eins que ma dame / Ruina

"The real headline performance on this album is the lai En demantant et lamentant...it is here performed TTB, with voices taking the texted part in turn as the others vocalise. The result is rich, mesmeric and deeply moving...The famous rondeau Ma fin est mon commencement (‘My end is my beginning’) is especially pleasing in this thoughtful, clear performance. The Orlando Consort bear Machaut’s virtuoso writing lightly and keep the text clearly in the foreground." - Gramophone Magazine, January 2021.