Was mediaeval polyphony a musical mutation? A monstrosity that transgressed the boundaries of the natural? While 11th century ecclesiastical scholars fulminated against this ‘aberration’, composers drove the provocation to extremes. From Alain de Lille’s hymn Exceptivam Actionem, which criticises God’s ‘unnatural’ creation, to the caustic self-mockery of Jacob de Senleches and Solage, this is music that undermines its own right to exist. Never afraid of experimentation or controversy, graindelavoix sides firmly with the mutineers. With nine voices and three instruments, they plunge into this ‘crisis repertoire’ that has continued to scrape and shock its way through the centuries.
