Performers: Hieke Meppelink (soprano), Sytse Buwalda (alto), Nico van der Meel (tenor), Marcel Moester (baritone), Saskia Coolen (recorder, viol), Erik Beijer (viol), Louis Peter Grijp (lute, cittern), Marcel Beekman (tenor), Johannes Boer (viol), Freek Borstlap (viol); Patrick Denecker (shawm), Marleen Leicher (cornet), Mirella Ruigrok (shawm), Dani Pelagatti (shawm), Cristian Braun (sackbut); Marjan Banis (recorder), Alide Verheij (recorder), Bert Honig (recorder)
Playing time: 68'
Recording date: May & June 2005 (Bunnik & Vreeland)
Release date: 2005
Obrecht's secular music is not nearly as well-known as his sacred works, partly due to the smaller scale, and partly due to the fact that much of it survives without lyrics. It is often unclear whether the lyrics are intended to be well-known, and so omitted, or whether the works are instrumental. In any event, Obrecht's secular items range from some of the more luxurious courtly songs in French, to simple & rollicking tunes in Dutch. There is little in the way of a unifying style, unlike in his mass cycles.
Lyrics to tracks 2-4, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 19, 21, 22, 24, and 25 are by the modern Dutch poet, Gerrit Komrij. They are based on musicological reconstructions of the likely syllable & rhyme patterns of the originals, and also on the known themes & ideas of the Rhetoricians of the period, the original writers of many of the morality texts on love & alcohol, etc. Uncertain attributions are marked with a question mark.
This program constitutes Obrecht's complete secular music to the extent that it is known today.
Original information from Johan Borremans.
Another recording featuring Obrecht's secular music:
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Todd M. McComb