Performers: David James, John Potter, Rogers Covey-Crump, Mark Padmore, Charles Daniels, Gordon Jones, Paul Hillier
Playing time: 68'
Recording date:
September 1988;
Rel.: 1989
This is one of the most widely admired recordings of music of this era; people from all backgrounds seem to enjoy it. The first & last tracks are particularly impressive.
The polyphonic style of the era was to place a theme (chant, in the case of liturgical settings) in the tenor (the lowest voice) in long notes, and then to add "decoration" in the upper voices. As such, the lines are not really independent, but are dominated rhythmically by "cells" given by the notes of the tenor. This is the typical organum. In the conductus (non-chant based), the two main lines are sometimes more independent melodically, but the rhythms are substantially similar. There is also a large body of monophonic conducti (organa are polyphonic, by definition; the monophonic version would be plainchant).
For more discussion of this harmonic language, see Thirteenth-Century Polyphony: A Quick Guide to Combinations and Cadences.
A much more recent video featuring the present ensemble & repertory:
A similarly motivated program in a somewhat similar style:
And another recording with Hillier:
A recording devoted to Perotin's predecessor at Notre Dame, Leonin:
To purchasing information for this disc.
To FAQ references to this recording.
To FAQ CD index page.
Todd M. McComb