Jean David: Le Luth (1973) [Le Chant Du Monde]

Expertly played medieval lute music.

This fits in perfectly with the last two posts - more from Le Chant Du Monde and more lute music. It's a rather odd album, though. Judging from his website, Jean David appears in concert as a medieval bard, not only playing lute, but singing, telling stories, even dressing accordingly. And this album mirrors his stage show, it seems. The repertoire consists of medieval and renaissance music plus some originals. David's lute playing is expertly, no doubt about it. While his singing feels in fact quite genuine, it is pretty much a matter of taste, though.

Not exactly an album i'm playing often, even if i really enjoy the instrumental pieces.

Like all titles in the "Spécial Instrumental" series, the tripple-fold-out album cover is richly illustrated and contains basic information on the history, tuning and playing of the lute. It's in fact the historical importance of the lute as the ancestor to the guitar that fascinates me most about this album. So much of the music i love has it's roots here.

Here are a few excerpts from the entry on the lute in wikipedia:

The European lute and the modern Near-Eastern oud both descend from a common ancestor via diverging evolutionary paths. The lute is used in a great variety of instrumental music from the Medieval to the late Baroque eras and was the most important instrument for secular music in the Renaissance. It is also an accompanying instrument, especially in vocal works, often realizing a basso continuo or playing a written-out accompaniment...

The words "lute" and "oud" derive from Arabic "al-ʿud" (which literally means "the wood")... As early as the 6th century, the Bulgars brought the short-necked variety of the instrument called "Komuz" to the Balkans, and in the 9th century, Moors brought the "Oud" to Spain...

Medieval lutes were 4- or 5-course instruments, plucked using a quill as a plectrum. There were several sizes, and by the end of the Renaissance, seven different sizes (up to the great octave bass) are documented. Song accompaniment was probably the lute's primary function in the Middle Ages, but very little music securely attributable to the lute survives from the era before 1500. Medieval and early-Renaissance song accompaniments were probably mostly improvised, hence the lack of written records.

In the last few decades of the 15th century, to play Renaissance polyphony on a single instrument, lutenists gradually abandoned the quill in favor of plucking the instrument with the fingertips. The number of courses grew to six and beyond. The lute was the premier solo instrument of the 16th century, but continued to accompany singers as well.

Jean David: Le Luth
Le Chant Du Monde LDX 74514
Serie Spécial Instrumental, France, 1973
issued as "Die Laute" on Pläne G-1-0015, Germany, 197x

A1 Branles De Village 1-2-3 (Robert Ballard) 2:15
A2 Robinson's May (Trad) 1:50
A3 Guignolo De St-Lazo (Trad) 2:45
A4 Greensleeves (Trad) 2:00

Basse Danse (5:30)
A5a La Roque Sans Roche (Pierre Attaignant)
A5b Les Bouffons (Arr.: Jean David)
A5c Spagnoletta (César Negri De Milan)

Bourrée (3:30)
A6a Bourrée (Jean David)
A6b Lou Cœur De Mo Mio (Trad)

B1 J'ai Vu Le Loup, Le Renard, Le Lièvre (Trad) 1:40
B2 Chœur Dix - Improvisation En Trois Mouvements :
Arabesque - Orient-Occident - Yin Et Yang (Jean David) 16:35

Jean David (lute, voc)