Sollazzo Ensemble Completes the Louvain Chansonnier

The Sollazzo Ensemble’s completion of the Leuven Chansonnier represents a study in late-medieval mensural (the precise notation of rhythmic duration) polyphony. By recording these fifty chansons, the ensemble restores the logic of the Burgundian court, where the tenor (the structural base voice in a polyphonic composition) functioned as a geometric anchor for lyrical ornament. The project is a major achievement in performance practice, offering a view into the transition from the late Ars Nova to the early Renaissance style. Sollazzo’s approach avoids the museum-piece aesthetic, instead treating these works as living demonstrations of harmonic tension and resolution.