Search - Francois Fauche, Matthieu Lusson, Ensemble Clement Janequin :: Une fête Chez Rabelais: Songs & Instrumental Pieces from the First Half of the 16th Century - Ensemble Clment Janequin

The ribald humor and over-the-top tall tales of François Rabelais are the sort of material that Dominique Visse and the Ensemble Clément Janequin, the preeminent comedians of the early-music world, would find irresistible. Here Visse, five singers, and five instrumentalists pay tribute to Rabelais in a fabulously raucous program including the expected bawdy ballads, a drinking song by the monks of the fictitious "Order of St. Babouyn" (precursors of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence?), a tune about why not to eat pork (don't ask), and a song about ugly breasts so scurrilous that Harmonia Mundi didn't print translations. (There are also several serious chansons, including lovely renditions of Gombert's famous Mille regretz and Je prens congie.) Be advised: many of the texts whiz by so fast that non-native French speakers will miss most of the words, let alone the jokes; still, the singers communicate the spirit of the music very clearly. (Another entertaining record is Ensemble Convivencia's Bayeux Manuscript disc, which features songs actually quoted by Rabelais.) Matthew Westphal