Alla Francesca - Richard Coeur-de-Lion: Troubadours et trouveres (1996)

The full title of this disc, Richard Coeur de Lion: Troubadours and Trouvères at the courts of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lionheart, Marie de Champagne and Geoffrey of Brittany (12th century), gives an idea of just how diverse and dispersed the sources of this music were, and the variety is reflected in the musical styles. The trouvères, based in the north of what is now France, spoke langue d'oïl, (Old French), and their melodies tended to be melismatic and freely invented. The troubadours, from the south, spoke langue d'oc, and their music was simpler, with more use of repeated refrains. What united them was the predominant theme of their poetry, the chivalrous but unattainable quest for courtly love. (Richard the Lionheart, though King of England, spent most of his life in Aquitaine, in southwest France, where his court was a gathering place for musicians.) The CD includes music by some of the most famous troubadours, such as Bernart de Ventadorn, and trouvères like Gace Brulé, as well as many less familiar and several anonymous songs. Because of the romantic content of the songs, as well as the more flamboyant musical style of some of them, the singers of Alla Francesca perform them with considerable passion and abandon. Although there were many women trobairitz and trouvères, all the writers represented here are men, but some songs are written from the woman's perspective, and some can be interpreted as dialogues. That provides for a nice variety in the performances, with the songs divided between men and women. The accompaniments are simple, but lively. The sound is clean and clear, with a good sense of presence.