Recorder Magazine

A few years ago the CD «officium» by the Hillard Ensemble and saxophonist Jan Gabarek caused something of a stir with its combination of early music and jazz sonorities. Ensemble Diferencia's CD «Cantio Triplex»,while not including jazz idioms, does bring together early music and what are very much 20th-century recorder techniques, with an equally exciting outcome. A considerable amount of the disc is devoted to the music of Guillaume Dufay and as Ensemble Diferencias note, «We have tried to approach this wealth of invention and fantasy from the 15th century with a colourful palette of sounds and with imagination - that of the late 20th century, to be sure, but one which nevertheless can still lead to unexpected results.» It is with Dufay's setting of «AveMaris Stella¾ (also featured, interestingly enough, on Officium) that the programme opens, the ancient chant being given out on bells befor being joined by recorders, voice and finally recorder/vocalisation. Dufay's diminutions of the anonymous «Bon jour, bon mois» are executed with impressive and crisp precision. Bells one again join recorders in a setting of the Sanctus, and voice and medieval fidel in the «Lamento sancte matris ecclesiae Constantinopolitae». By far the earliest music on the disc are two Byzantine chants from the 7th century by Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem and Andrew of Crete, modal and melismatic pieces which, played here on recorders and sometimes employing subtle sputato, take on an almost contemporary character. The three anonymous pieces from 17th century Moscow introduce us to a form of music still little known in the West. Although performed on recorders, this was originally religious vocal music, having its roots in the Middle Ages, and the chant-like melodies make it sound much more ancient than its date would imply. The harmonies are, however, extraordinary and the music, especially of the first and third pieces, moves smoothly from dissonance to dissonance, which gives it a remarkably 20th century feel! The middle piece of the three employs vocalisation into bass recorders, producing some amazing harmonics which combine with the sound of the accompanying bells. Dufay's «Cantio Triplex» opens with a combination of harmonic-like sounds on fidel and barely breathed recorder notes before three recorders and fidel played in orthodox fashion continue and conclude this smoothly progressing piece. It is a lute which joins three recorders in the beautiful «Vergine bella». The final piece on the disc, Dufay's «Inclita stella maris», is once more played on three recorders, but this time it is the almost hypnotic tintinnbulation of the bells as they increase in rhythmic intensity and complexity that make this an especially attractive item. Renaissance recorders by Bob Marvin, Andreas Schwob and Frederick Morgan are used throughout, their full sonority and flexibility being especially effective. Ensemble Diferencias show great versatility in their use of other instruments and voices, but it is their imaginative yet always entirely musicianly recorder playing that provides this programme with such appeal. Twentieth-century techniques applied in this way to early music may not find approval among the purists, but really do «lead to unexpected results». An unusual and exciting disc which is thoroughly recommended.