Agricola worked with Josquin and Ockeghem, was born in Ghent around 1447, and died in Spain in 1506. …the urbanity and elegance of his music would not have sounded old-fashioned in later Renaissance/Tudor courts. …Fretwork brings out the warmth and subtlety of the instruments, and Michael Chance sings convincingly in his four appearances.

Alexander Agricola, the quincentenary of whose death fell in 2006, is not over-represented in the catalogue so this disc, then, is very welcome.
Fretwork take hold of this frequently unpredictable music (all but one of the pieces are performed in new editions by composer Fabrice Fitch) with confidence. They produce performances of exuberance, proving that what a contemporary of the composer called his 'bizarre and crazy manner', as Fitch notes, can either be subverted or assumed to be, in fact, less crazy than it might appear and give impressive musical results. The chansons also prove that Agricola was a fine melodist: his contrapuntal strangeness elsewhere (perhaps best shown here in the freely composed Pater meus agricolaest) is probably no greater than that of Ockeghem or Obrecht, both of whose counterpoint is frequently thoroughly eccentric.
A unique feature of this anthology is that it includes two parts from Fitch's cycle of Agricologies, a work in several movements for Fretwork and the Kreutzer Quartet. The material for the work comes from Agricola, or material used by him, and Fitch makes a point of working, in the first, with his melodic quirkiness and, in the very brief second, with his counterpoint, a remarkable texture being produced by the performers tapping on the strings rather than plucking or bowing. An impressive disc on all counts, which should do much to restore Agricola's obscure profile to the light.

Fretwork take hold of this frequently unpredictable music… with confidence. They produce performances of exuberance, proving that what a contemporary of the composer called his "bizarre and crazy manner", as Fitch notes, can either be subverted or assumed to be, in fact, less crazy than it might appear and give impressive musical results. An impressive disc on all counts, which should do much to restore Agricola's obscure profile to the light.