Josquin & The Franco-Flemish

Description

Active in the 15th and 16th centuries, the composers of the Franco-Flemish school include figures as brilliant and diverse as Binchois, Dufay, des Prez, Obrecht, de La Rue, Isaac, Roland de Lassus, Willaert and de Wert. Covering two hundred years of Western music history, the school flourished throughout the Renaissance as the language of music underwent the gradual transition from the old modality to the tonality that signaled the dawn of Baroque aesthetics. In addition to commemorating the central figure of Josquin des Prez (1440-1521), this set includes many other major works of the Franco-Flemish school, encompassing the various genres illustrated and developed by its members - secular songs in fixed or free form, motets, polyphonic masses, psalm settings, etc. These compositions are captured in all their striking beauty by renowned performers such as the Ensemble Gilles Binchois, Taverner Consort, The Hilliard Ensemble and The King's Singers. Polyphony at its peak, the closeness of the sacred and the secular and an astonishing modernity of thought - all these qualities explain why this music still has such immediacy for us today.