Lassus: The Alchemist, Vol. 3

This third and final volume of Magnificat's 'Lassus: The Alchemist' series is devoted to Magnificats based on secular chansons. Courtly entertainment, popular song and everything in between, the chanson provided composers with an inexhaustible source of melodies and ideas, ready to be recast in new guises.

Lassus's genius lay not only in the originality of his own chanson compositions, but also in his transformation of such secular models into music of profound expressive and spiritual power. Some of his choices seem entirely natural: Susanne un jour, Beau le cristal and Mort et fortune all resonate with themes that find echoes in their sacred settings. Others, however, are strikingly unexpected.

The worldly wit and erotic innuendo of Si vous estes m'amie, Dessus le marché d'Arras and Si par souhait remind us that Renaissance attitudes to parody and borrowing differed greatly from our own. This recording brings together the chansons and the Magnificats they inspired to offer a vivid portrait of Lassus. As at the Bavarian court where Lassus enjoyed the finest instrumentalists of his age, Magnificat is joined by the distinguished players of The City Musick.