Le Jeu d'amour includes a generous selection of 13th century songs and dances from northern France, most by anonymous trouvères but some by named singer-poets like Adam de la Halle and Guillaume d'Amiens. Some of the pieces are strongly melodic strophic songs and some are more chant-like, but most tell stories of courtly love, romance involving an unattainable object of desire. One of the greatest appeals of the album is the variety of its material. There are a cappella songs; songs with differing accompaniments, including drones; songs using several voices, some unison and some polyphonic; recitations of poems for which no music exists; and instrumental dances. The accompanying ensembles are usually small, made up of one or two players, but they are varied, and overall include flute, recorder, harp, bagpipes, and ancient bowed strings like vielle and rebec and the plucked gittern. Soprano Anne Azéma has a bright, ringing voice and a straightforward, unmannered delivery that suit this material beautifully, and she sings with tremendous conviction, putting the songs across as the passionate declarations of love or romantic despair that they are. The instruments provide colorful and inventive but understated accompaniments that keep the main focus on the voice. Although the songs were almost certainly written and originally performed by men (there were women troubadours -- trobairitz -- in southern France, but none, as far as researchers can discern, were known in the north) but many are written from a woman's viewpoint, so Azéma's performance seems entirely appropriate. The sound is clean and life-like.
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