me:mo is a series of video essays about music and art history. The aim is to present music in its cultural context, offering a glimpse into the lives behind it, past and present.
The program is hosted by Lukas Henning, who studied early music at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis under Prof. Hopkinson Smith, where he acquired his Master of Arts degree in 2016. Currently he is active as a performing musician in Central and Northern Europe.
Graindelavoix has some of the most beautiful and emotive interpretations of early music I've heard. I don't care if it's not how the early musicians sung, their interpretations are beautiful and really bring the music alive to me. This idea in classical music that old pieces must be performed in the way that it was performed at the time is utter bullshit. With all the musical knowledge we've gained, it is possible and it would be a total waste not to improve upon how our ancestors would've performed the music of their day. If it sounds beautiful, is able to move people, and doesn't fully destroy the piece itself, it's permissible in my eyes.
Considering what some baroque period ensembles sound like, graindelavoix is neither worse nor better. We know little about performance practices in the baroque era, and even less about what renaissance musicians did. What we do know, however, is that embellishments, slides and the like were used by instrumentalists, not singers. It's likely that ornamentation was used in notated worldly vocal music starting in the 16th century Italy and France, but it is extremely unlikely that such embellishments were used in church settings. As for adding a "nasal" rustic quality and whetever else graindelavoix does, it is also undocumented. Notated music throughout West European history from at least the 14th century ars nova polyphony was used mostly by the church and nobles, and they wanted to distance themselves from low-class peasants as much as possible. Peasants and professional town musicians (most larger cities West European cities had musicians' guilds from the 13th-14th century and the city would employ the best on an ad hoc basis to provide fanfares on festive occasions and even weekly public concerts in public squares) rarely knew how to read notated music and worked using improvisation and memorization much like today's jazz musicians do. For this reason, almost all of their music and traditions are lost, because if they couldn't read or write music, they couldn't read or write words either. Nobody has really researched stylistic transfer of musical performance and composition between Byzantium, Western Europe, and the Caliphates from the 10th century until the end of the Crusades and the end of the reconquista in Spain in 1492, so it is extremely difficult to judge whether they had any influence on each other. Certainly, the Greek modes were used in Gregorian plainchant, and the one-note drones used in Byzantine chant were introduced in Gregorian plainchant around the 10th century. Beyond that, it's impossible to say if either Buzantium or the West adopted. Muslim culture developed 72 heptatonic tone rows or scales (maqamat) constructed from augmented, major, neutral, and minor seconds, which they used in homophonic performance (one melody, no harmonization, even if the melody is played by multiple instruments at the same time) with - perhaps - rhythmic instruments. It seems inconceivable that Crusader musicians didn't learn anything from Byzantium or the Arabs during the 300 years spanning from just before the Crusades until their end, but I can find no evidence or discussion of this topic. So while written descriptions of how music was or should be performed start to occur in the second half of the 16th century due to rising literacy in general, little was written by nobles and churchmen in the middle ages. Nobles would have thought it beneath them to comment on peasants' singing, and church choirs had cathedral schools where music performance tradition was passed on orally. Ercole d'Este I, Duke of Ferrara, sent talent scouts out to various European courts to find the best court composer he could hire, and his secretary wrote a letter to the Duke in 1502, where he recommends the hiring of Isaac instead of Josquin Desprez (then arguably the most famous composer-singer in Europe) because Isaac is "able to get on better with his colleagues and composes new pieces quicker. It is true, Josquin composes better, but he does it only when it suits him and not when it is requested. More than this, Josquin asks 200 ducats while Isaac is pleased with 120." Ercole still hired Desprez. However, the letter is typical for the Middle Ages and Renaissance, inasmuch it doesn't discuss the composer's stylistic merits or his qualities as a singer. Nobles at courts could certainly hear the difference between a good performance and ones less so, or troubadours and trouveres wouldn't in the 12th-13th centuries would not have been mentioned by name (just liike painters and sculptors at this time were named only very exceptionally) and their notated music wouldn't have been preserved. The issue here is that troubadours and trouveres were nobles themselves who wrote both poetry and music. They knew how to perform their own stuff, so they never left any instructions about how to perform it. Their vocal parts are often very complicated rhythmically and difficult to perform except by trained and specialized singers today. Troubadours and trouveres, accompanied themselves on harps, plucked instruments and bowed vielles and many of their instrumental accompaniments have been preserved. These are all written for one instrmental part only, and iconographical evidence suggests that the troubadour or trouver accompanied himself without additional musicians performing as well. me.me, you have quite the nerve to ask for contributions for making an amateurish review of a CD by a group that basically "transcribes" ancient music to make it easier to listen to for modern audiences. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Composers in the renaissance often performed movements from masses in 4-5 parts, motets, chansons, and madrigals in viol consorts (e.g., at the court in Ferrara and Mantua in Isabella d'Este's and Francesco II Gonzaga's time), and J.S. Bach and others performed keyboard music on various types of keyboards that happened to be available and suitable. But using Tizian's style of painting to discuss whether Willaert's music should be performed with ornamentation is patent nonsense. A style of painting tells us nothing about performance practice, unless performers with instruments are featured, in which case they can show us how instruments were held and illustrate the types of ensemble combinations at most. The best way to describe graindelavoix performances is: Renaissance music sung using "transcribed" performance practice to sound appealing to 21st century ears.
Mr. Henning, This is, perhaps, the most interesting and wonderful presentation of lute-centric music I’ve ever witnessed. I’m bored with much (but not all) of the lute world. Tons of players playing the same pieces “perfectly” from the page. You bring something lively and fresh to the whole scene. I long for more music and video essays from you.
To find the words to express gratefulness - it is ineffable. Such fine work, but not just in regards to music, but to the human spirit. I'm taking a step back from Archlute to study the theorbo. Might you have advice for a lowly fellow like me!? All the best to you, Maestro.
Excellent examination of the many musical ideas at play here. I only take issue with the title and underlying question "Tasteful or nauseating". To me, that seems to be of secondary consideration. As it is not fully possible to know exactly how the music may have sounded it it's time, we might want to consider other asks such as "is the performance style effective, does it communicate the story?" For myself, I am convinced that Bjorn and the crew are on a righteous path. In a way the recording legacy is the proof in the pudding when it comes to Early Music interpretation. Recordings come along now and then that are revelations and open our ears to the possibilities in the music. I feel that Graindelavoix have the distinct honor of being among the groups whose legacy grows and shapes our understanding of how the music could or should sound. Taste might be a fickle fancy, it is the qualities that transcend taste that make the endeavor most worthwhile.
After listening to different recordings of Dufay, Binchois, and Ockeghem, graindelavoix really grabbed my attention. This video is just what I needed for better comprehension of their unique style! Schmelzer is a genius.
Bravo! You've said all this so well and so beautifully. As a lutenist (and guitarist) myself, I heartily agree. I'm also happy I stumbled upon your channel, even though I'm seeing this video several years after it was made. All the best to you, cheers!
What an incredible channel - id love to learn more from you, mate. Im working through some Dall'aquila and it is quite demanding for me. All the best from California
Aaah Capirola! I haven't had the opportunity to delve into his repertoire as much as I've done with other coeval Italian lutenists of the period, but his book is something wondrous, with a painstaking care for detail; as this excellent video effectively points out, after all.
There are so many beautiful things in this video, and not just speaking as a lutenist (although not a professional one) in love with the XVI Century music. By the by, he dowlandian description of McCartney's cover for the orpharion is a juicy touch of class, really amusing! Ah, one last little thing: those scissors on the string... please don't you show that ever again, it's traumatising! :-D
Superb! The very soul of the period finds exquisite vocal expression here. And how interesting that a contemporary of Purcell seems to have taken his inspiration from Byrd...
Gosh. I really wish youd keep the channel going. Such lovely and inspirational presentations in such a dim world. So very needed, especially in the US. Best wishes, sir.
As good as you guys make them sound, the lute, so resonant, is unrecordable in its richness, which I've only grasped now that I have one. This is also a wonderful testament to improvisation: how important it has been, and what it actually entails. Conversation implies...you speak a language.
Superb....a masterpiece of this genre. Seriously. I want to learn that crazy dance....the capriole....also a jump you see horses make in Vienna...I've no doubt there is a relation. Incredible music, gorgeous singing, the animation of the tablature....this video inspires at so many levels.
Priceless. Having been seduced by the partimento rage a few years ago, I recently acquired a student Renaissance Lute at the tender age of 65.....I love it, but discovering this channel was a terrific side benefit.
Merci pour cette interprétation sensible et délicate ! Découvert ce magnifique instrument en 1993 grâce aux Suites de De Visée enregistrées par l'excellent théorbiste que fut Pascal Monteilhet (1955-2022), décédé hélas en août dernier à l'âge de 67 ans...
You discuss a very human trait; if something isn't popular then it's fair game for ridicule and scoffing. That's why we have stereotypes: men like beer and sports, but only manly sports. If you don't at a man, then you better watch who you tell so.
I've watched this four times now and occasionally come back for small quotes too. great, I appreciate this a lot, and have tremendous respect to you, Sir...
un sonido fantástico, una pureza en todas y en cada una de las notas pulsadas por el lautista; la belleza natural de estas obras requiere una sensibilidad y ésta queda demostrada en interpretación.
