Daniel Elgersma – Fortune Infortune: A Portrait of Margaret of Austria (2023) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Daniel Elgersma – Fortune Infortune: A Portrait of Margaret of Austria (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:10:48 minutes | 1,19 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Brilliant Classics

The Amsterdam-based recorder quintet has done it again: an original concept, featuring several first recordings, and superb performances which confirm them among the top-tier of today’s early-music chamber ensembles.The present album arises from a concert devised in 2018 for a festival in Bruges celebrating notable female figures from history. Seldom Sene chose to focus on Margaret of Austria (1480–1530), who was governor of the Habsburg Netherlands for almost 20 years. Margaret had grown up with the benefits of a first-class education afforded to very few of her female peers: she was adept in all the humanities, and her library of books was reckoned one of the most extensive and learned at the time, a fit place to welcome distinguished guests such as Albrecht Dürer.

From around 1515, one of the volumes in Margaret’s library was her newly commissioned personal songbook: a collection of 55 chansons and motets, richly decorated with high-quality miniatures and initials. Many of the song texts speak of loss, sorrow and loneliness, perhaps reflecting her status at the time as a noble widow, following the death of her second husband, Philibert II of Savoy, in 1504. Margaret herself seems to have written several of them, and may also have been involved in their musical setting.

Marian devotion is another theme of the songbook reflected in this selection made and transcribed and recorded by Seldom Sene. Sacred hymns are balanced out by secular laments, but also lighter and more cheerful numbers such as ‘Brunette m’amiette‘ and ‘La jonne dame’. Many of the composers are now lost to us and effectively anonymous, but the names that survive are worthy of Margaret’s elevated status, including Josquin and Pierre de la Rue.

Tracklist:

1-1. Daniel Elgersma – Maria, mater gratie/(Fors seulement) [a5] (03:28)
1-2. Daniel Elgersma – Fors seullement (II) [a5] (02:58)
1-3. Daniel Elgersma – Plaine de duel et de melancolie (a5) (06:15)
1-4. Daniel Elgersma – Plusieurs regretz (a5) (03:32)
1-5. Daniel Elgersma – Se je souspire/Ecce iterum (a3) (06:02)
1-6. Daniel Elgersma – Consideres mes incessantes plaintes/Fortuna desperata (a5) (02:45)
1-7. Daniel Elgersma – Je me complains (a5) (01:29)
1-8. Daniel Elgersma – Je ne dis mot (a6) (01:42)
1-9. Daniel Elgersma – Quand il advient choses (a5) (01:24)
1-10. Daniel Elgersma – Brunette m’amiette (a5) (02:50)
1-11. Daniel Elgersma – La jonne dame (va au moulin) [a5] (01:29)
1-12. Daniel Elgersma – Changier ne veulx, c’est mon plaisir (a4) (05:57)
1-13. Daniel Elgersma – Ne vous chaille mon cueur (a5) (02:17)
1-14. Daniel Elgersma – Douleur me bat et tristesse (a5) (03:37)
1-15. Daniel Elgersma – Va t’ens, regret (a3) (03:47)
1-16. Daniel Elgersma – Je my levay un matin (a5) (02:09)
1-17. Daniel Elgersma – Qui vult aymer il fault estre joieux (a5) (01:44)
1-18. Daniel Elgersma – Ne vous chaille mon cueur (a3) (02:09)
1-19. Daniel Elgersma – Dueil et ennuy (a5) (02:59)
1-20. Daniel Elgersma – Tous nobles cueurs (a3) (02:19)
1-21. Daniel Elgersma – Cueurs desolez/Dies illa (a5) (08:41)
1-22. Daniel Elgersma – Petite camusette (a6) (01:05)

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