The French and Italian Renaissance song repertoire, immortalised during the first three decades of the sixteenth century by the printed editions of Pierre Attaingnant in Paris and Ottaviano Petrucci in Venice, invites audiences, and in former times performers, to immerse themselves in a world in which memories of medieval courtly poetry, the austerity (as reimagined in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries) of ancient lamentations, and a fully polyphonic narrative style, were all collided and superimposed-a certain sense of conversation can remind us also of the French air de cour as well as the early Italian madrigal form.

These chansons and frottole give rise to discrete, almost enigmatic emotions, where music and text unite as one, transparent and restrained.

Guided by the subtle sound of Hopkinson Smith’s lute, the diaphanous voice of German soprano Sophie Klussmann roams over this little-known early Renaissance territory through four sections which take the form of return journeys between France and Italy.

The sly melancholy of songs by Claude de Sermisy (Puisqu’en amours) and other French contemporary figures, some of them settings of poems by Clement Marot, thus collides with more plaintive pieces, by Marchetto Cara (Io non compro piu speranza) and Bartolomeo Tromboncino, whose supplicatory Per dolor me bagno il viso and final, heady Dolermi sempre voglio both attain peaks of intensity, at the same time being two sumptuous examples of the frottola form.

During these sixty minutes, Sophie Klussmann produces exquisitely subtle and precious wisps of sound, recalling that the heart and soul of these snapshots very often remains the matter of love. Her dark gold timbre hints at the eternal in the one piece in the programme whose text is of a religious nature, the sublime, questioning prayer Se mai per maraveglia.

1. 34 Chansons musicales a quatre parties: No. 10, mes ennuyz
2. 37 Chansons musicales a quatre parties: No. 12, Jouissance vous donneray
3. 42 Chansons musicales a troys parties: No. 12, Amy, souffrés
4. 37 Chansons musicales a quatre parties
No. 10, Dont vient cela
No. 37, Tant que vivrai
Intabulatura de lauto: No. 7, Recercar VI
5.Tenori e contrabassi intabulati col sopran in canto: No. 5, Se mai per maraveglia
6. Tenori e contrabassi intabulati col sopran in canto: No. 26, Ostinato vo’ seguire
Tenori e contrabassi intabulati col sopran in canto: No. 48, S’io sedo a l’ombra
8. Intabulatura de lauto: No. 35, Poi che volse la mia stella
9. Cara: Tenori e contrabassi intabulati col sopran in canto: No. 46, Io non compro più speranza
10. Claude de Sermisy: 37 Chansons musicales a quatre parties: No. 14, Il est jour
11. Claude de Sermisy: 31 Chansons musicales a quatre parties: No. 26, Puisqu’en amours
12. anon.: 35 Chansons musicales a quatre parties: No. 24, Le Jaulne et bleu
13. anon.: 42 Chansons musicales a troys parties
No. 7, Le cueur est mien
No. 16, Dolent depart
anon.: 34 Chansons musicales a quatre parties: No. 26, De toy me plaintz
14. Lurano: Libro 9 di frottole: No. 27, Poiché speranza è morta
15. Cara: Tenori e contrabassi intabulati col sopran in canto: No. 8, Per fuggir d’amor le punte
16. Capirola: The Capirola Lutebook: No. 40B, Che farala che dirala
17. Tromboncino: Tenori e contrabassi intabulati col sopran in canto
No. 55, Ala guerra
No. 2, Per dolor me bagno il viso
Zesso: Tenori e contrabassi intabulati col sopran in canto: No. 43, Starala ben cussi?
18. Tromboncino: Tenori e contrabassi intabulati col sopran in canto: No. 41, Dolermi sempre voglio

This quite magnificent new recording from the formidable duo of Hopkinson Smith (soloist) and Sophie Klussmann (voice) opens on the elegance of 34 Chansons musicales a quatre parties: No. 10, mes ennuyz, the smoothly sculpted 37 Chansons musicales a quatre parties: No. 12, Jouissance vous donneray and the amiable 42 Chansons musicales a troys parties: No. 12, Amy, souffrés, and then we get brought forth the three-piece 37 Chansons musicales a quatre parties; which begins with the delicate No. 10 Dont vient cela, the soft No. 37, Tant que vivrai and ends on the structured Intabulatura de lauto: No. 7, Recercar VI.

Along next is the delicate Tenori e contrabassi intabulati col sopran in canto: No. 5, Se mai per maraveglia, the ductile Tenori e contrabassi intabulati col sopran in canto: No. 26, Ostinato vo’ seguire and the rhythmically easeful Tenori e contrabassi intabulati col sopran in canto: No. 48, S’io sedo a l’ombra, and then comes the malleable Intabulatura de lauto: No. 35, Poi che volse la mia stella, the gently emboldened Tenori e contrabassi intabulati col sopran in canto: No. 46, Io non compro più speranza, the unyielding 37 Chansons musicales a quatre parties: No. 14, Il est jour, the rounded 31 Chansons musicales a quatre parties: No. 26, Puisqu’en amours and a captivating 35 Chansons musicales a quatre parties: No. 24, Le Jaulne et bleu.

Up next is the graceful 42 Chansons musicales a troys parties which also features the alluring No. 7, Le cueur est mien, the graceful No. 16, Dolent depart, and the effortlessly ethereal 34 Chansons musicales a quatre parties: No. 26, De toy me plaintz, which are backed seamlessly by the quietly agile Libro 9 di frottole: No. 27, Poiché speranza è morta, the emotive Tenori e contrabassi intabulati col sopran in canto: No. 8, Per fuggir d’amor le punte and the melodious The Capirola Lutebook: No. 40B, Che farala che dirala, the three-piece Tenori e contrabassi intabulati col sopran in canto opening on the joyful No. 55, Ala guerra, the more cautious No. 2, Per dolor me bagno il viso, culminating with the flourishing Tenori e contrabassi intabulati col sopran in canto: No. 43, Starala ben cussi?, the entire set closing on a sober, yet smoothly-engrained Tenori e contrabassi intabulati col sopran in canto: No. 41, Dolermi sempre voglio.

Purchase Link

www.sophieklussmann.de

www.hopkinsonsmith.com