Alba Music
Ensemble Tre Fontane : Musiques à la cour d'Aliénor d'Aquitaine (F,2007)***°
Tre Fontane is an ensemble who are specialised in medieval poets and minstrels from the langue d’Oc area in France, which has been an important centre for court-like minstrel gatherings.
With this release they made a compilation associated with what was performed at the court of Aliénor of Aquitaine or which was related to her surroundings, with a certain range in diversity of characters of minstrels although they’re performed with somewhat comparable results.
Aliénor of Aquitaine was a very important figure of the 12th century. She had a turbulent life which could easily fill a huge series of films to capture the range of experiences. Her grandfather was Guillaume de Poitiers, 9th duke of Aquitania, the first known minstrel. Of her own life I will tell you that she was a noble beauty, who went on the crusades with her first husband, had a period when she was duchess of Aquitaine, with queen associations, a period of personal and cultural freedom, where courtly love was defined, and which attracted a platform for minstrels. The area of Aquitaine as well as the South of Spain not only was a refuge for creativity, it also was a barrier of land that kept its freedom with a distance from the Islamic state in Spain, and kept hidden certain relative variations of more independent philosophies against the attempts for Roman Christian domination elsewhere in France. The area contained a Basque and an Occitan part, both areas which until today have their own languages and traditions. Some more known modern day cities of Aquitaine are Bordeaux, Biarritz and Bergerac, while Poitiers was the first centre for musical gatherings in the region. Besides this period Eleanor also knew a period of imprisonment in England, but then suddenly became Queen of England. She had died at very old age, leaving many children of which Richard Lionheart and John as later kings might be the most remembered ones.
There’s a difference in simply accepting and enjoying an album like this, or recognise how much results from a certain spirit captured through the performance, in our times, compared to the original hidden source with its personalities of composers and the original time’s perspectives involved, and only then make a balance of the results, which has a more critical vision. Even when we can discuss certain musical solutions, there can never be denied the richness the whole picture provides.
Hurdy-gurdy-player Pascal Lefeuvre had his Noé Jazz Ensemble in the 80s, before in 1986 he established with two others the Tre Fontane group. He had also recorded with Eduardo Paniagua «Luz de la Mediterranía». Since 1992 he established “Viellistic Orchestra” (hurdy-gurdy, bass, percussion), with a repertoire from medieval music to Bartok, over new jazz. He also realised with Luis Delgado «Sol y Sombra», with Arab-Andalusian music and a CD with Moroccan singer El Arabí Serghini Mohamed («Ryâd al hubb»). Since 2007 he joins a trio with 2 Brazilian musicians, Trio Atlantico. Pascal succeeds with his hurdy-gurdy to make the instrument sound not just like any drone string accompaniment (almost like droning pipes, or as how it quite often is used), but more often like a bowed instrument with different accents, often it comes very close to the violin-like strings of the citole.
Thomas Bienabe plays lute and citole. The sound of some lute arrangements sound close to certain Middle Eastern and Arab-Andalusian oud interpretations.
Romie Estéves is the singer. One of my favourite tracks is “Ja Nuls” by Aleonor's son Richard coeur de lion (Lionheart), where her singing technique comes close to the by me highly celebrated and appreciated minstrel master Esther Lamandier, so with a bit more fantasy in singing, like a European version to what has been kept safe and survived in Middle Eastern medieval music (and Arabo-Andalusian) interpretations, but which more likely had a similar origin of style, related in general with the sound of certain times. Myself I don’t know how much the Arab-Andalusian music styles had an influence on European music. Islamic Spain and the crusades alone must have had its multi-cultural exchange. Besides, some lute players learned certain skills from Moorish traditions, like Bernard De Ventadorn (also listed). So even when I could expect certain influences, I just must listen with my heart (as Thomas Binkley would point at how it participates in his interpretations), to hear what performance brings me closer to the songs or not. Court music must have had its distinguished cultural superior quality of a creative entity, which nowadays could be confused with a certain mannerism, when medieval music is brought onto a podium and associated with classical music. On “Fort Chausa” just slightly, and even more on the more operatic podium singing on “Ab lo cor triste”, this tendency where the interpretations becomes more mannerism comes close, also because the hidden true musical structure doesn’t come out here as much, and the musicians improvise with not many different ideas from the vocal melody.
But elsewhere there can be found interesting arrangements that truly form a different layer of inspirations. I like for instance very much the bouzouki-like picking ideas of “Quand Noif” from Gace Brulé, or some of the more Arabo-Andalusian lute interpretations, mentioned earlier. In general the music captures with just three instruments a certain aspect and spirit well, which makes the music highly enjoyable.
