‘What these sound recordings attempt to do is to bring you face-to-face - or, perhaps more appropriately, sound-to-heart - with actual works of the troubadours and, occasionally, of others in their circle of influence. The task is daunting for so many reasons: songs got written down decades, even centuries, after their dates of creation; only about ten percent of the original melodies survive; and most direct knowledge of how performers worked out their interpretations at the time has been lost. We know nothing whatsoever about the singing style, or about the techniques of instrumental accompaniment that may have been employed. These performances, therefore, of necessity, reflect a confluence of musicological and philological knowledge with performers' instincts and intuitions, as all of these tendencies interacted with each other at a specific moment in history, the late twentieth century.

The dominant subject matter of the first two programmes, 'Lo Gai Saber' and 'Le Fou sur le Pont', is worldly love, its joys and its sorrows. Much of what the listener may encounter here may resonate very strongly within his or her mind and heart. This is, in part, because such strong feelings about romance and sex are, in a sense, timeless.

But the resonance is also due, in large part, to the fact that it is the troubadours who first set out, in the West, the ethic of man–woman relationships that influences our behaviour to the present day.

What is less known and appreciated about the troubadours is that many of their works do, indeed, deal directly with religion, and with the destiny of man, and often in a powerful and compelling way. The third CD in this series, 'Provence Mystique' - along with some of the tracks of Lo Gai Saber - groups some of these songs and texts, together with other, church-related works of southern Europe, in order to compose a picture of the deeply felt spirituality of that epoch. The listener is bound to note the extent to which the religiously oriented works are bound up with, and interdependent with, the secular love songs. The naïve faith of certain spiritually oriented songs contrasts with the pessimism and skepticism of others: traits of character and culture still very much present in the Provençal/Occitan/southern French civilization of our own time.

By reuniting these recordings in a single box, we hope to generate some new insights, understandings and pleasures. Heard individually, these medieval miniatures, both sacred and secular, are a constant source of energy and delight. Experienced as an interrelated group, these songs of worldly love, and of yearning for the divine, create a dense, intense microcosm of Mediterranean passion and desire: a universe that still calls to us strongly, across the centuries.’
Joel Cohen - Aniane, France, June 2010

Contents:
CD 1
I. Del Gran Golfe de Mar - Ondas do mar / Altas undas que venez suz la mar
I. Del Gran Golfe de Mar - Del gran golfe de mar
II. Proensa - Pos tornats sui en Proenza
II. Proensa - Ab l'alen tir vas me l'aire
III. Ab Joi et ab Joven - Er, quan vei chanjar lo senhoratge
III. Ab Joi et ab Joven - Bel m'es, quan vei chanjar lo senhoratge
III. Ab Joi et ab Joven - Ab Joi et ab Joven
IV. Novel Amor - Interlude : Danca dles dos domnas
IV. Novel Amor - Sirvens sui avutz et arlotz
IV. Novel Amor - Dona, tant vos ai preiada
IV. Novel Amor - Damma, pos vos ai chausida
IV. Novel Amor - Ab la dolchor del temps novel
IV. Novel Amor - Nouvele Amor qui si m'agree
V. Ben es dreihz qu'eu planha - Lancan vei la folha
V. Ben es dreihz qu'eu planha - Dirai vos senes duptansa
V. Ben es dreihz qu'eu planha - Ar mi puesc ieu lauzar d'amor
VI. Ar em al freg temps vengut - Interlude : Lo freg temps / Ar em al freg temps vengut
VI. Ar em al freg temps vengut - Be'm degra de chantar tener
VI. Ar em al freg temps vengut - Un sirventes novel vueill comensar / Judicii Signum
VI. Ar em al freg temps vengut - O Maria Deu maire

CD 2
1. Can vei la lauzeta mover
2. Non es meravelha s'eu chan
3. Cantarai d'aqueszt trobadors
4. Lo gens temps de pascor
5. E.I. vescoms de Ventadorn (narration)
6. E dieus li det (narration)
7. Tant ai mo cor ple de joya
8. Mout duret lor amors (narration)
9. Per melhs cobrir lo mal pes
10. E Bernart se'n issi (narration) - Bel m'es can eu vei la brolha
11. Lonc temps ac gran joia d'ella (narration) - Lancan vei per mei la landa
12. Bernartz de Ventador (narration) - En cossirer et en esmai
13. Puois s'en penset (narration) - Eram cosselhatz, senhor
14. E apelava la Bernart (narration) - Can vei la lauzeta mover
15. Et partic se de Normandia (narration) - Lancan vei la folha - Tuit cil que m preyron
16. Amics Bernart de Ventadorn
17. E lai, a l'orden de Dalon (narration) - Can vei la lauzeta mover

CD 3
1. Anon : "Audi tellus"
2. Anon : "Clara sonent organa"
3. Gaucelm Faidit : "Ar levatz sus, francha corteza gens!"
4. Anon : Planctus Beate Marie : "Tantost com fon al loc vengutz" [extract]
5. Anon : "Vexilla regis"
6. Jaufré Rudel : "Del quatre caps que a la cros"
7. Anon : "Verbum Patris humanatur"
8. Peire Vidal : "D'un sirventes far"
9. Alfonso X of Castille / Arr Anon : Cantigas de Santa Maria : No.45 "Una ciutatz fo"
10. Anon : Planctus Beate Marie : "Dona, Maire del salvador" [extract]
11. Anon : "Flore vernans gratie"
12. Alfonso X of Castille : Cantigas de Santa Maria : No.45 "En bon ponto"
13. Anon : "Gregis pastor Tityrus"