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  • Oliver Gerlach July 26, 2015 20:24

    Please allow me to answer in English, because there might be some interested readers who do not understand French:

    A very nice example of organum improvisation, of course, far from Léonin's ars organi, but all musicians who have the courage for this experiment, have to face this truth! It is not meant to discourage them.

    My only objection is that paenultima and principium ante principium are ornaments, and Christian Ploix's way of performing them reminds me a little bit of Joe Potter's lack of phantasy (he once published an interesting CD with dupla of the Magnus liber under the name of an ensemble called "Red Byrd").

    The other interesting aspect worth a discussion is his use of rhythm. At the beginning the organum purum rather seems to be a discantus, which was sometimes called "copula", if it was sung over the long holding notes of a tenor. There is still the problem that we tend to define rhythm, so that we are lost within the concept of free rhythm.

    I think he could deal with it in a more French way to solve the problem, like Pierre Boulez:

    « Dans le temps lisse on occupe le temps sans le compter; dans le temps strié, on compte le temps pour l’occuper. »

    If I say French way, I also think of the Préludes non mésurés by Le Couperin and the style brisé of Blancrochet.

  • Alban Thomas July 10, 2015 18:37

    Merci, cela fait plaisir d'entendre un chanteur qui se prête au jeu de ce type d'improvisation.

    Pour ceux qui seraient intéressés par cette pratique, une "méthode" permettant de s'y confronter a été publiée il y a quelques mois. Vous la trouverez ici.

    Musique à la Renaissance
    Association 'Musique à la Renaissance' ayant pour but la diffusion, la connaissance et la pratique des musiques du Moyen-Age à la Renaissance.
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