Director: Andrew Kirkman
The Binchois Consort was founded in 1995 to perform Dufay’s Mass for St Anthony of Padua as part of a liturgical Mass for the Saint’s feast day. Since then it has received standing ovations across Europe and the United States for its imaginative programmes, each woven around a historical theme, be it a particular court, composer or great event of church or state. Its aim in every case is to weave a sounding ‘tapestry’ with which to transport its audience, if only for an evening, into another realm. The group also enjoys getting involved in educational enterprises, working with other ensembles and performing new commissions.
All of its eight discs (on the Hyperion label) have have been greeted by stunning reviews. Music for St James the Greater by Guillaume Dufay received numerous awards, including Recording of the Month and Early Music Recording of the Year in Gramophone magazine and a Diapason d’or. The group’s fourth disc, Josquin Des Prez and his Contemporaries, was voted runner-up in the Early Music Recording of the Year competition for 2002 by Gramophone, and its next release, of Masses and motets by Busnois, Domarto and Pullois, was shortlisted for the same award, also receiving the coveted 'G5' of 'Goldberg' magazine and 'Five stars' in BBC Music magazine. Recording no. 6, of a Mass, Puisque je vis, thought to be by Dufay, along with motets by Dufay, Compère and others, was named Diapason decouverte by Diapason, and received various other music industry accolades. The group's most recent disc, just recently released, of Dufay and the Court of Savoy, may be its best yet: the London Observer enthused about '...this gloriously performed disc from the eight male voices of the pure-toned Binchois Consort. Contrasting motets and mass propers, works of sublime clarity, are rewardingly interspersed. Who knows - or cares - whether it's even faintly authentic. The results are mesmerising.'
www.binchoisconsort.com
www.hyperion-records.co.uk |
