Gramophone Editor's Choices - July 2022

Doulce Mémoire, Denis Raisin Dadre

Josquin: Si je perdoys mon amy / Par ung matin m’y levay
Josquin: Vivrai je toujours en telle paine
Josquin: Qui belles amours
Josquin: À l’heure que je vous p.x.
Capirola: Ricercar ottava
anon.: Petite camusette
Ockeghem: S’elle m’amera / Petite camusette
Josquin: Petite camusette
anon.: Mein hercz in hohen frewden ist
Josquin: Tant vous aime
Josquin: Belle pour l’amour de vous
Josquin: An avois
Josquin: Que vous madame / In pace
Isaac: Missa la Spagna: Agnus Dei
Josquin: El Grillo
Josquin: In te Domine speravi
Compère: Scaramella fa la galla
Josquin: Scaramella va alla guerra
Attaingnant: Basse dance Cueur angoisseux
Ockeghem: Ma bouche rit
Josquin: Ma bouche rit
Josquin: Bergerette Savoysienne
anon.: Bergeretta savoyena
Josquin: À l’ombre d’ung buissonnet
Josquin: Une jeune fillette, sur "Comment

Doulce Mémoire performs a varied programme of works by Josquin Desprez.

Josquin Desprez, princeps musicorum, the prince of musicians, as his contemporaries called him, is best known today for his sacred works, the masses and motets, which have been widely performed and recorded. Surprisingly, his chansons have received little attention from performers, except for the pieces for five and six voices, printed after his death by the Antwerp publisher Tilman Susato in his seventh book of 1545.

Doulce Mémoire has chosen to focus on the chansons for three and four voices, which are probably the earliest in the Hainault master’s output; with their diversity of language and themes (sometimes folk-derived), these songs constitute a varied programme that is at once serious and bawdy, a testament to the unequalled art of Josquin Desprez.