Folie Douce, by the Ensemble Doulce Mémoire: Music Review by Jehana Silverwing

Released on Dorian Recordings, 1998.

File under Classical.

Folie Douce (Sweet Folly) is an album of Renaissance Improvisations. As is pointed out in the liner notes, many of the original Renaissance musicians developed their own styles of performance, and the static notes that have come down to us today due to the misfortune of the lack of period recording equipment cannot give the listener the full "soul" of how music was likely to be performed in those days. The written scores of many contemporary musicians cannot present the full aural picture of how these musicians actually sound.

The members of Ensemble Doulce Mémoire studied Renaissance performers who attempted to make note of the embellishments and ornamentation which had been a part of their original performances, and attempted to replicate the same or similar techniques. They studied these, and made such improvisations in the style of the times as was appropriate in the music they now record. What results is a sound embued with character and personality, not a cold recitation of just the notes.

Instrumentation, as far as I can tell, is authentic. We have lutes, recorders, a harpsichord and a cittern. We have a Renaissance guitar and we have cornetts. Five men from France perform in this ensemble. They cover several pieces by a variety of Renaissance composers: Praetorius, Vincenzo Galilei, Johann Hermann Schein, Pierre Attaingnant, and more.

If you like the inspirations and meditations provided by crisp, enjoyable, sometimes danceable, Renaissance instrumental music, this may be the album for you.