Through the songs or ‘chansons’, we are given the chance to be transported back to a point when the word, note, instrument and performer collided to document impressions of a world lived long ago and yet with which we share so much. As songs that had a vibrant life beyond the words, we are afforded an entrance into the evergreen world of instrumental music of the Renaissance, into music that filled the taverns and dwellings of Paris and beyond.

This is why these works maintain such relevance for us today. For Chansons musicales is not simply an exercise in museum-driven reconstruction, notwithstanding the world-class research that underpins the project. These are living and breathing works. Together, the 1533 publications from which the tracks on this album are drawn (and reconstructed) offer a rare window onto the extant oeuvre of composers of times gone who took their cue from contemporary poetry. This was poetry that captured the natural and human world around them and could be adopted to create chansons of different styles whose themes – love, hope, regret, the seasons, and more – artists of all creeds continue to explore for our benefit as we look to understand our world and our place in it. Hence the timelessness of works disseminated nearly 500 years ago and hence these recordings.

In 1988 Nancy Hadden directed her ground-breaking recording Flute Music of the 16th and 17th Centuries (Hyperion), the first ever recording to be devoted to music for the Renaissance flute. Following the album’s success, Nancy founded Zephyrus Flutes. The group has developed over many years of friendship and collaboration, driven by the shared passion to play the beguiling and beautiful consort repertoire for Renaissance flutes using historic instruments and playing techniques.