“Con voce quasi humana” presents a panoramic view of the secular music of the Trecento, from the earliest surviving anonymous pieces from the Rossi codex, and those by the first musicians whose actual names we know (Piero, Giovanni da Cascia, and Jacopo da Bologna), via the florid style of some of the best-known Florentine maestri (Francesco Landini), to the rapid decay of this culture in the early Quattrocento. The majority of pieces recorded here come from what is arguably the most important and lavishly executed collection of Trecento music – the famous Squarcialupi codex, now preserved in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana.

A special aspect of this recording by the Perlaro Ensemble lies in the all-vocal interpretation of the Trecento pieces. Through this approach, a clarity of pronunciation and phrasing is attained that to a certain extent makes it easier to hear all the “voices” within the various compositional styles and genres, such as madrigals, ballatas, and caccias. On the other hand, the title, “con voce quasi humana” (with a quasi-human voice) also represents human voices in the form of conversations in the song texts. Moreover, this recording focuses on songs about singing, songs that carry the listener away to an ideal place, putting him/her into the poet’s mood. It is up to each person to decide whether the songs seduce or cause torment, or whether they give the listener happiness with their enchanting beauty.