jGuillaume Dufay (c.1397-1474)
Quadrivium: Motets, vol. 1

01 Salve flos Tuscae gentis
02 Apostolo glorioso, da Dio electo
03 Imperatrix angelorum
04 Alma Redemptoris Mater (I)
05 Gaude Virgo, Mater Christi
06 Ecclesiae militantis
07 Anima mea liquefacta est
08 Vasilissa, ergo gaude
09 Salve Regina
10 Inclita stella maris
11 Alma Redemptoris Mater (II)
12 Balsamus et munda cera
13 Juvenis qui puellam
14 Flos florum
15 Nuper rosarum flores

The cube made with matches which appears on the cover of this disc, showing on flames in the inside of the digipak and afterwards completely burnt, plays with the ideas that inspire this dazzling recording: the four ways to the knowledge of numbers through the Quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy), which are expressed through something as ephemeral as sound, where also the unexpected and the emotion of the moment take place.

A long essay by Guido Magnano introduces us to the fascinating world of numeric relationships, tunings and architecture applied to music, concepts that we discover, in all their magnificence, in the music of Guillaume Dufay. Let us just remember that Dufay put music to the consecration of the awesome cathedral of Florence, with that marvellous dome built by Brunelleschi that today, after more than five hundred years, still overwhelms us with its immense beauty. This work of art rendered by Cantica Symphonia, one of best kept secrets of the performing elite of these beginnings of the 21st century, is a truly moving experience.

On this recording, approached from the beginning as a great tribute to science, Dufay’s motets sound as they never did before, with the wise incorporation of instruments where the score is claiming them, with that perfection engraved with humanity that only the greatest can transmit, with a music and an interpretation that are far beyond the fashions of the moment. A full celebration of the eternal expressed through the ephemeral...