Collectors of early music recordings will undoubtedly know of the fine reputation enjoyed by Ensemble Leones. Together with director Marc Lewon, they have set a new aesthetic standard for this repertoire. Ensemble Leones employs a range of performance possibilities, from a cappella ensemble to a mixture of instruments and voices, that readily transports the listener back in time with great authority and even greater pleasure.
Unicum
New Songs from the Leuven Chansonnier
Ensemble LeonesMarc Lewon
The discovery in 2015 of a 15th-century parchment chansonnier still in its original binding was made still more startling because it contained twelve previously unknown, anonymous chansons. Most are rondeaus, and they range from the uncomplicated to the refined and elaborate; many bear musical indications that they are the work of the greatest composers of the period. In this recording they have been contextualised with other known songs but in the variant versions found in Leuven. As on their recording of the Chansonnier Cordiforme (on 8.573325), Ensemble Leones employs a range of performance possibilities, from a cappella ensemble to a mixture of instruments and voices.
Donnez l'aumosne, chiere dame
Plectrum Lute Duos of the Late 15th Century
Lewon • Kieffer • Newcombe
– Gramophone
The Chansonnier Cordiforme
Ensemble Leones • Lewon
– Fanfare
Musical Treasures from the Early Habsburg Renaissance
Ensemble Leones • Lewon
– American Record Guide
(The Glogau Song Book)
Songs, Comic Tales and Tails
Lutzenberger • Hummel • Lewon • Ensemble Dulce Melos
– ClassicsToday.com
A Minnesinger and his ‘Vale of Tears’:
Songs and Interludes
Ensemble Leones • Janssens-Vanmunster • Romain • Lewon
– MusicWeb International