Graindelavoix, Björn Schmelzer - Poissance d'amours: Mystics, monks and minstrels in 13th-century Brabant (2008)

Little attention has been given on record so far to the music and writings emanating from the flourishing economic and cultural environs of 13th-century Brabant but it is from the remarkable outpouring associated with this medieval duchy – covering the areas of Brussels, Antwerp and the present day Belgian provinces of Vlaams and Walloon Brabant as well as Noord-Brabant in The Netherlands – that Björn Schmelzer and Graindelavoix have created their third recording for Glossa. In Caput (GCD P32101) and Joye (GCD P32102) Schmelzer and his Antwerp-based ensemble explored in the late medieval music of Johannes Ockeghem and Gilles Binchois undercurrents that illuminate our own times. What preoccupies Graindelavoix in early music is the bond between notation and what eludes it: the higher consciousness and savoir-faire that the performer brings to a piece (ornamentation, improvisation, gestures...). An integral part of this new project – uniting three broad groups active in Brabant, mystics, monks and minstrels – is where it was recorded: the Dominican Church in Leuven, where Schmelzer considers much of this music may have been performed. Constructed following the model of the Sainte Chapelle in Paris, the church retains an acoustic unchanged by the passing of time and contributes to a new CD which provides a fascinating musical account of an important region of Europe inthe 13th century.