Eloquence Classics

This set of three CDs contains the complete ‘Chansonnier Cordiforme’, perhaps the most beautiful of all surviving music manuscripts whose first owner was Jean de Montchenu (d. 1497). It was compiled during the 1470s and contains 43 songs from the preceding 30 years by Dufay, Binchois, Ockeghem, Busnoys and other composers of the time. This was the first, and remains the only complete recording ever made of an entire fifteenth-century songbook; and it gives everything in its original order, starting from the first page and ending on the last. The extensive booklet includes new introductions by Anthony Rooley and the Chansonnier’s editor and project supervisor, David Fallows, a substantial essay on the background to the music as well as every title by Fallows and full texts and translations.