Holland Baroque presents Minne, an improvised program inspired by the love poetry of medieval mystic Hadewijch from Brabant. Hadewijch was a 13th-century beguine who wrote...

Holland Baroque presents Minne, an improvised program inspired by the love poetry of medieval mystic Hadewijch from Brabant. Hadewijch was a 13th-century beguine who wrote an impressive oeuvre of love poetry, providing an original, female perspective on medieval life. For this project, Holland Baroque works together with Bastarda Trio, a folk-jazz group combining the unique sonorities of clarinet, cello and contrabass clarinet. Inspired by medieval poetry, the result is a playful, passionate, truly contemporary album.

REVIEW:

Is this an early music disc? Is it jazz? Is it folk music? Is it contemporary classical music? The answer to all of these questions is “Yes.” This is a mostly quiet and contemplative program, but it is not dull, and I think it would be particularly effective if it were accompanied by the burning of incense and the eating of figs. It also would be good to meditate for a while on the life of a woman and a mystic during the Middle Ages. Hadewijch herself probably would not have recognized any of the music on this program, but that does not mean that she could not have grooved to it.

-- Fanfare