Tant vous aime

"Even if we were awash with recordings of Josquin's secular works - which we certainly are not - this disc would stand out as something different ... Throughout, instruments are used liberally and colourfully, sometimes playing alone as in 'À l'heure que je vous' in which the outer parts are in canon at the ninth. Doulce Mémoire consists of five voices and use also lute, harp, bass, tenor and alto bombards, and various recorders. The booklet tells us the provenance of each of them. The recording is immediate and spacious and all texts are clearly given and well translated".

Read review

"Gramophone classical music awards 2022 - Early music: Much of this album demonstrates a cool mastery of conservative performance: several lesser-known chansons are performed from the best editions with a gripping focus on the text ... Thélème presents a masterclass in early-music arrangement ... The aim is to align Josquin with some famous 20th-century melancholy and this is achieved with such imaginative conviction that ... Josquin is both venerated in faithful reproduction and honoured by inspiration. The whole album is superb".

"This would be a terrific Christmas present for your Josquin-fan friend. Not only are the performances all on an extremely high level but there are quite a lot of pieces here that you cannot otherwise hear ... Thélème sing everything with four adult male voices, occasionally helped by a lute ... with glorious results. But just for a bit of fun they have also used modern instruments: an ondes martenot, a Fender Rhodes and a Buchla synthesizer ... 'La Bernardina' sounding absolutely delicious on ondes martenot, 'Mille regretz' totally shredded with the help of the Fender Rhodes, 'Adieu mes amours' and 'Bergerette savoisienne' with lute and ondes martenot".

"Editor's choice: This new album from Doulce Mémoire ... largely explores songs from Josquin's French years. Furthermore, Denis Raisin Dadre has searched original folk anthologies to restore missing verses to several works, notably 'Tant vous aime' ... Here, as throughout this album, one is immediately charmed by the voice of Clara Coutouly ... and it sums up the album aptly: a charming and gripping performance that tells a story ... There's so much to explore here ... This could be one of my favourite secular Josquin discs in recent years".