Ensemble Gilles Binchois

From the group's liner note bio...

The Ensemble Gilles Binchois, founded in 1979, bears the hallmark of a group dedicated to the discovery and interpretation of music from the Middle Ages. Unaffected by fads or fashions, the group has remained completely loyal to its objectives, which include close study of the various repertoires (especially French) and of their relationship with music of the oral tradition, study of different types of notation, and an attempt to achieve the vocal and instrumental sonorities appropriate to these repertoires.

The Ensemble has deliberately chosen to accept only those engagements which fit in with the goals it has set for itself, devoting the time required for research and preparation of the programs offered. This self-imposed discipline may have slowed development of the group's public image, but it has fostered the maintenance of extremely valuable contacts and privileged relationships with musicologists, instrument makers and record companies who have nourished and stimulated the group's creative work.

In the course of the last ten years, the arrival of numerous specialized artists of different nationalities has enriched the quality of the Ensemble.

The Ensemble Gilles Binchois has received public recognition throughout Europe as the result of its recordings, tours and concerts (Belgium, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Switzerland as well as Hungary, Baltic Countries, Poland, Czechoslovakia with the help of the Association Française d'Action Artistique and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

In France, the Ensemble is subsidized by the Counseil Régional of Burgundy and the Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles de Dijon.

The Ensemble Gilles Binchois is directed by Dominique Vellard, one of the most distinguished scholar-performers working in the field of medieval music (see below). He is one of the driving forces behind the influential Center for Medieval Music in Paris.

The Ensemble changes its constitution to fit the chosen program. Frequent participants include: Philippe Balloy (voice), Emmanuel Bonnardot (voice, fiddle), Randall Cook (fiddle, winds), Pierre Hamon (winds), Anne-Marie Lablaude (voice), Brigitte Lesne (voice, harp), Lena-Susanne Norin (voice), Gerd Türk (voice), Dominique Vellard (voice, lute), Willem de Waal (voice).... Specific performer information is included in the citations below.

Ensemble Gilles Binchois was worked with a wide range of recording companies, and continues to have a variety of programs under production. Several recordings have been made, but have yet to appear. In many cases, preparatory work done by Vellard & the Ensemble appears before the general record-buying public first in the form of similar programs released more quickly by related ensembles. Although some have criticized the "definitive" quality which Vellard brings to his productions, as being less emotionally charged than that of other groups, the attention to detail can only be admired. In the end, emotion without depth of acquaintance is fleeting, and Ensemble Gilles Binchois' depth can reveal itself over very many hearings.

Discography

(chronological, by recording date)

In omnem terram

Chants grégorien et chants liturgiques regionaux du moyen-âge
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Auvidis 4953 (LP)

Ecole de Notre Dame de Paris

Le Chant des Cathédrales
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Harmonic 8611

Machaut: Poète et musicien

Le vray remède d'amour
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Stil 1203 CCS 87 (Cass.)

Triste plaisir et douleureuse joye

Binchois / Dufay: Ballades, Rondeaux, Lamentation
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Harmonic 8719

Le vray remède d'amour

Machaut: Ballades, Rondeaux, Virelais, Motets
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Harmonic 8825

Les Tons de la Musique

Gregorian Chant
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Harmonic 8827

Le Banquet du Voeu 1454

Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Virgin Veritas 59043

Le Manuscript du Puy

L'Office du Nouvel An: Cathédrale du Puy-en-Velay, XIIe - XVIe siècles
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Virgin Veritas 59238

Machaut: Messe de Notre Dame

Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Harmonic 8931

Fontaine de grace

Jehan de Lescurel: Ballades, virelais et rondeaux
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Virgin Veritas 45066

Dufay: Missa Ecce ancilla Domini

Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Virgin Veritas 45050

Les Escholiers de Paris

Motets, Chansons et Estampies du XIIIe siècle
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Harmonic 9245

Ecole de Notre Dame de Paris

Permanence et Rayonnement: XIIe, XIIIe et XIVe siècles
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Harmonic 9349

Palestrina: Mass, Lamentations, etc.

Ensemble Gilles Binchois / Schola Cantorum Basiliensis - Dominique Vellard
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 77317

Le Jugement du Roi de Navarre

Machaut: Ballades, motets, virelais, textes dits
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Cantus 9626

Les premiers polyphonies française

Organa et tropes du XIe siècle
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard, dir.
Virgin Veritas 45135

El Misteri d'Elx

Drame sacrée en deux parties pour la Fête de l'Assomption de la Vierge
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Virgin Veritas 45239 (2 CDs)

Meeting of Angels

Nishat Khan & Ensemble Gilles Binchois
Amiata Secret World 1096

Musique et poésie à Saint Gall

Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard & Wulf Arlt
Harmonia Mundi "Documenta" 905239

Sola m'ire

Cancionero de Palacio
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Virgin Veritas 45359

Mon souverain desir

Binchois: Chansons
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Virgin Veritas 45285

Escobar: Requiem

Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Virgin Veritas 45328

Tientos y Glosas en Iberia

Jesús Martín Moro / Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Tempéraments 316014

Les trois Maries

Messe grégorienne de Pâques
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Virgin Veritas 45398

Cantor & Musicus

La Musique dans les Manuscrits de la bibliothèque Interuniversitaire Médecine de Montpellier
Ensemble Gilles Binchois
Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire de Montpellier BIU 7437 (CD-ROM)

Pérotin & L'École de Notre Dame, 1160-1245

Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Ambroisie 9947

Amour, Amours

Florilège des chansons françaises de la Renaissance
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Virgin Veritas 45458

Cantigas de Santa Maria

Ensemble Gilles Binchois
Ambroisie 9973

Ceballos: Lamentaciones / Posuerunt super caput eius / Missa 3. toni / Salve Regina, Magnificat 2. toni

Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Almaviva 0136

Vox nostra resonet

New music for voices
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Glossa 32301

Compilations

Musica humana

Anonymous 4 / Ensemble Discantus / Ensemble Gilles Binchois / Choeur byzantin de Grèce / Ensemble Organum / Musica Nova / Crawford Young & John Fleagle / Gothic Voices / Hilliard Ensemble / Houria Aïchi / Yann-Fanch Kemener / Ozan Firat / Kalenda Maya / Françoise Atlan
L'Empreinte digitale 13047

Le Banquet du Voeu

Le Manuscript du Puy
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Virgin Veritas 45337 (2 CDs)

Millenium - Music from the Middle Ages

Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Virgin Classics 61640 (2 CDs)

Le Banquet du Voeu - Dufay: Missa "Ecce ancilla Domini"

Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Virgin Classics 61818 (2 CDs)

Early French Polyphonies - Le Manuscript du Puy

Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Virgin Veritas 61940 (2 CDs)

Cathedral Dreams

Music to Inspire
Various artists
Virgin 67804 (2 CDs)

Machaut: Je, Guillaumes dessus nommez

Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Cantus 9804/6 (3 CDs)

Le Chant des Cathédrales

Notre Dame School, 12th-14th centuries
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Cantus "Mirror Collection" 9703/4 (2 CDs)

Vox Naturalis

Medieval Vocal Music: Chant / Notre Dame / Machaut
Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Cantus 9817/20 (4 CDs)

Dictionary of Medieval & Renaissance Instruments

Various Artists
Cantus 9705/6 (2 CDs)

Chansons de la Renaissance

Ensemble Gilles Binchois - Dominique Vellard
Virgin Classics 82076 (2 CDs)

With Voice and Pen

Coming to Know Medieval Song and How it was Made
Ensemble Dialogus / Ensemble Gilles Binchois / Sequentia ...
Oxford University Press ISBN 978-0-19-921476-1 (book + CD)

Supplementary Discography - Dominique Vellard

From Vellard's liner note bio....

Dominique Vellard, born in 1953, has taught at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Medieval-Renaissance department) since 1982. At the age of seven he sang in the Maîtrise de Notre-Dame de Versailles under Pierre Béguigné. Later he studied at the conservatory in Versailles and soon made contact with various early music ensembles. Since founding the Ensemble Gilles Binchois, he has devoted himself to the entire spectrum of Medieval and Renaissance music, from chant to 16th century polyphony.

Ciconia: Madrigaux & Ballades

Clemencic Consort - René Clemencic
Harmonia Mundi 10 068 (LP)

Binchois: Chansons, Missa Ferialis, Magnificat

Clemencic Consort - René Clemencic
Harmonia Mundi 10 069 (LP)

Troubadours & Trouvères

Gerard Le Vot, et. al.
Studio SM 12 21.75

Polyphonie Aquitaine du XIIe siècle - St-Martial de Limoges

Extraits des matines de Noël
Ensemble Organum - Marcel Pérès
Harmonia Mundi 901134

Veritas mea

Chant Grégorien dans l'Église romaine de Tavant
Dominique Vellard & Emmanuel Bonnardot
Stil 2106 SAN 84

Dufay: Missa Ave Regina cælorum

Ensemble Cantus Figuratus / Schola Cantorum Basiliensis - Dominique Vellard
Stil 0710 SAN 85

Codex Engelberg 314

Music of the Late Middle Ages
Schola Cantorum Basiliensis - Dominique Vellard / Wulf Arlt
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 77185

Nova Cantica

Latin Songs of the High Middle Ages
Dominique Vellard & Emmanuel Bonnardot
Deutsche Harmonia Mundi 77196

La Chapelle des chantres des Ducs de Lorraine

Thérache / Lasson / Motets de Lorraine
Ensemble Cantus Figuratus / La Traditora - Dominique Vellard
K617 056 (Collection Mémoire Musicale de la Lorraine)

Sources

Devotional chants of Southern India and Medieval Europe
Aruna Sairam / Dominique Vellard
Virgin Classics 45440

Meeting

Two Worlds of Modal Music
Indian Ragas & Medieval Song
Dominique Vellard / Ken Zuckerman / Swapan Chaudhuri / Keyvan Chemirani
Harmonia Mundi "Documenta" 905261

Escobar: Missa in Granada, 1520

Ensemble Cantus Figuratus - Dominique Vellard
Christophorus 77263

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