The instrumental music of Josquin Desprez is, as Ensemble Leones director Marc Lewon points out, a neglected part of this titanic composer's output. The neglect is due to various factors, most prominently that true instrumental music during Josquin's life was in its infancy, and even that potentially attributable to Josquin survives mostly in publications of dubious provenance that may have tried to traffic in his famous name. Moreover, there has been little evidence as to what the music was actually supposed to sound like; ...
Read More
The instrumental music of Josquin Desprez is, as Ensemble Leones director Marc Lewon points out, a neglected part of this titanic composer's output. The neglect is due to various factors, most prominently that true instrumental music during Josquin's life was in its infancy, and even that potentially attributable to Josquin survives mostly in publications of dubious provenance that may have tried to traffic in his famous name. Moreover, there has been little evidence as to what the music was actually supposed to sound like; many pieces were simply designated as à 3 or à 4. This selection by the multinational Ensemble Leones has specialist tendencies; Lewon is proposing an instrumental sound and a framework in which the music makes sense. But the album also holds some appeal for those who simply appreciate Josquin music, even if it isn't going to carve out a place for these pieces in the canon of essential Josquin. Lewon's settings lie somewhere between what would become the broken consort (of varied...
Read Less
