Fono Forum
May 2011
In 1532 François Rabelais began
writing his series of novels “Gargantua & Pantagruel”. Centering
around two giants, father and son, whose adventures and quests parody
the exploits of medieval chivalric romance. The names of this duo have
remained to this day synonymous for an extravagant, hedonistic outlook
on life. It is indeed this sensuality that is a clear trait of ensemble
Pantagruel. They may have explored the music of the Renaissance with
scientific meticulousness, but their interpretations are not harnessed
by mere scholastic academia. An almost subliminal nod to jazz and rock
can already be heard in the opening track “The Elves Daunce”. As to the
scenic elements of Pantagruel performances they can only hinted at in
the highly luxuriously designed booklet.
The two male ensemble members (Mark Wheeler & Dominik Schneider)
cover with flute, Bandora, cittern, gittern, lutes etc, the
instrumental domain. Anna Maria Wierød bewitches (yes indeed:
bewitches) with her bright, seemingly “naive” articulated soprano
timbre that can, as in John Dowland “I Saw My Lady Weepe” take on a
darker hue and in “Pantheas Lament” wax positively to a “whining”. This
clearly demonstrates that the “Phantastical Ballads, Ayres and Dances
from Elizabethan & Jacobean England” compass the whole gamut of
human experience. It is this breadth of musical emotions that leaves
you feeling you can never hear enough.
The programs title “Nymphidia”, is an allusion to Queen Elizabeth I, who was propagated by her doomed favorite The Earl of Essex as a “Fairy Queen”.
The root of this metaphorical adoration may have been chiefly
political, but the queen herself reveled in it’s design. This is a
technically perfect sounding CD to absolutely fall in love with. Christoph Zimmermann
Music *****
Sound *****
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