The Hilliard Ensemble, Paul Hillier - Guillaume de Machaut - Messe de Notre Dame / Le Lai de la Fonteinne / Ma fin est mon commencement (1989)

Hearing or performing music comes closest in the range of human activity to a visceral connection to the past. As long as we have notation and knowledge of how to interpret it, we can effectively experience something like our ancestors did when they sang the same music. Of course, our 20th-century sensibilities and knowledge--or lack thereof--prevent us from sharing identical responses, but as with the music on this disc, when we hear it we are in some way transported to another place. We know a completely different sound world from our own; we know that the accepted order of certain things was different. And we also know that in many ways people haven't changed. Machaut's music conveys a spirituality--both joyful and contemplative--that's as true in its impact as it must have been 600 years ago, a point made ever so clearly by these especially vibrant and vital performances. -- David Vernier