Product Description

Ensemble Nusmido grapples with 600-year-old music and attempts in four-voice a cappella and instrumental settings to come as close as possible to the sonic ideals of early polyphony. The chanson Lhomme arm (The Armed Man) was one of the most popular songs of the Middle Ages. The brave knights presented in this song, its certain victories and bloody battles, played a central role in the minds of 15th c. people: as soon as the Hundred Years War had come to a close, the Turks conquered Constantinople and threatened to attack Europe. The seemingly simple melody of Lhomme arm functioned as the basis of over thirty Mass settings in the 15th and 16th c., including this albums work by Flemish composer Johannes Ockeghem. Ensemble Nusmido, who have dedicated their work to the music of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, have combined the individual movements of this Mass with instrumental compositions with much care and deliberation some of these works are by Ockeghem himself, others by his contemporaries.