British tenor John Potter and fellow countryman Ambrose Field, composer of electronic/digital music, offer a striking juxtaposition of Renaissance music and present-day technology: In seven interconnected pieces, vocal fragments from the songs and sacred works by Guillaume Dufay (1397–1474) soar beautifully above Ambrose Field’s vast and multi-faceted soundscapes. “Then as now, music was not forever fixed but lived and breathed through the imaginations of former musicians and their listeners”, writes Field in his liner notes for “Being Dufay”. Potter’s voice immerses itself with great ease in the allusively processed sounds. Amrose Field: “The fragments of original Dufay are always presented entirely unaltered, and serve as a reference point or cantus firmus within what is new. From that new perspective, I wanted to explore the limits of the electronic medium, and produce a new set of musical colours.”

A fascinating project initiated by Hilliard Ensemble tenorist John Potter with producer Manfred Eicher, which re-examines the beautiful songs of the great sixteenth century composer from a present-day perspective. Potter: "This is the first time anyone's approached Dowland not from an 'early music' angle, but simply as music. We're working with Dowland as though he were still with us." The subject matter of the songs, with despair and 'alienation' uppermost, is entirely pertinent for our times, and the exceptional ensemble ranged around John Potter restores an improvisational flexibility to the music.

The tenderly melancholic album crosses the genres, with potential appeal to early music lovers, world music and jazz improvisation audiences alike. John Potter has selected a program of early songs and polyphonic vocal repertoire ranging from Gregorian chant and the Carmina burana manuscript (13th century) to Josquin Despre(c.1450/55-1521). Potter sees written music as a resource for fresh ideas and ravishing colors. All arrangements are developed in the improvisational interplay between the four musicians. The Dowland project appears on this third album in a slightly modified line-up: four outstanding players from different musical and cultural backgrounds fusing early music, folk and jazz sensibilities

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You might expect that Pärt's meditative, detached style--with little distinction between consonance and dissonance, or overt emotion--wouldn't wear well through a 70-minute Passion in Latin without even a break between tracks. (Actually, there's just one.) The roles are distinguished only by scoring: the Evangelist's narration is taken by four singers and a few instruments in various combinations; Pilate is a deliberate tenor; Jesus, a cavernous bass singing very slowly. However, if you listen calmly and attentively, this work will transport you. When Jesus sings (slowly, on a simple five-note scale), "It is finished," and the Evangelist quartet intones on a single note, "And bowing his head he gave up the spirit," it's heartbreaking. The choir's huge crescendo through the final nine-word prayer is stunning. --Matthew Westphal