French Songs

From the flamboyant Mauresques, inspired by the Commedia dell'arte, to the equally scurrilous French Chansons, the Ensemble Clément Janequin bring all their talents to bear on this extravagant jest by Orlando di Lasso.

Founded in Paris in 1978 the Ensemble Clément Janequin devotes itself principally to the secular and religious music of the Renaissance. Its interpretations of the Parisian chanson are regarded as authoritative, and recordings of works like Les Cris de Paris, Le Chant des Oyseaulx, Fricassée Parisienne and La Chasse have brought back to life one of golden ages of French music. Now available to a wide audience, the music of Janequin, Sermisy, Anthoine de Bertrand, Costeley, Roland de Lassus and Claude Le Jeune illustrates the contrasts in which the Renaissance took such delight… On the initiative of its musical director, the Ensemble Clément Janequin has appeared in the leading concert halls of Europe and in Japan, Canada, the United States and South America. As a soloist in a wide variety of operatic productions Dominique Visse has proven himself to be one of the most talented countertenors of his generation. He has appeared in a large number of baroque works (recorded with René Jacobs and William Christie, among others) and participated in the first performance of Outis, one of Luciano Berio's latest stage works, at La Scala in Milan (October 1996).