Crystalline castles In The Air
This beautiful collection of music by Ockeghem
, Brumel and de la Rue is stunning.
For the first time, I can really see the close connection between music and maths. These pieces are composed of such close and weaving harmonies, that they seem to create a sacred geometry of sound space, constructing something almost architectural in its balance and perfectly poised tensions. Listening to this, its at times impossible to work out whether the music is rising or falling, expanding or diminishing and contracting, as it seems to perform those oppositions all at once.
Though I am particularly drawn to music which is suffused with a longing, which feels as if can never come to 
fruition or resolution, this music comes from a different place. The devotion and faith which created it seem totally secure. The musical lines seem always to be resolved, even as they move to resolution. There is such a sense of always renewing balance.
That’s the music itself, and then there is the combination of fluidity and control from The Clerk’s Group, an effortless, everflowing stream of voices, building this rare fantastical soundscape.
The whole CD is a delight, but track 4, Fors seulement l’attente, chanson for 3 voices, is a pinnacle of pinnacles
Pictures of Manuscript and Ockeghem from Wikimedia Commons
Ockeghem: Requiem; Missa Fors Seulement Amazon UK
Ockeghem: Requiem; Missa Fors Seulement Amazon USA
Really intrigued by your second paragraph, first line. I’ve never really articulated the feeling of music or art where the longing does not get resolved. I love this! I know this is what draws me to most works of art and music, but I don’t think I ever formulated what it is in concrete terms, such as some element contained that does not come to fruition. This is inspiring as well as intriguing. Something to think about slowly. Excellent analysis.
Thank you so much. I think I’ve always been aware of music, more than any other art form – even more than poetry, as something which I feel very viscerally.
Music fascinates me – what exactly is it about certain chords, keys, progressions, tones, textures, that feel – the word is very apt – as if they echo, or even create – some response in the tissues themselves?
I’ve always liked that image in one of the Narnia books, where the world is SUNG into existence. Not just the logos, but the logos as music – its the idea of the ‘music of the spheres’ again, I suppose