Dufay was born (ca. 1400-1474) in Cambrai, France near the Belgian border. He was widely acknowledged as the greatest composer of his day and worked at the Papal Chapel in Rome and in Florence, among other places. His Alma Redemptoris Mater is imbued with an intense internal mysticism. Its smoothly-crafted counterpoint provides various paraphrases of the Gregorian Chant melody which is the traditional one for that text. The motet begins with one solo voice in the simplest paraphrase – it is very close to the original chant. Near the end of the work, the independent counterpoint of the three parts stops suddenly, and is followed by slow, mystical chordal phrases. And for just the final four notes (“miserere”) Dufay adds a fourth voice.

– Dennis Keene

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GUILLAUME DUFAY Alma Redemptoris Mater

Alexandra Montano, mezzo-soprano
Neil Farrell, tenor
Jeffrey Johnson, baritone

from the Delos recording From Chant to Renaissance ℗ 1995 Delos
The singers in this performance are represented by the American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO.