CD Review | Ménestrel, Janelle Lucyk, Kerry Bursey

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Ménestrel

Janelle Lucyk, soprano & violin; Kerry Bursey, tenor & lute

Leaf Music, 2025

At the end of their March 3 performance at Le 9e in Montreal’s Eaton Centre, the Ménestrel duo put their eponymous debut album on sale, giving the public a chance to continue their listening experience and discover pieces not included in the concert.

Right away, Janelle Lucyk’s gentle voice welcomes us, the tone swaying between full-bodied and light, creating an airy vocal line, weightless—which, in the context of folkloric music, constitutes a wonderful display of skill.

After another piece of the same nature, we hear Monteverdi’s “Sì dolce è’l tormento” which the two musicians presented at their Montreal concert. The vocal harmony evidenced live is reinforced here, enhanced by the recording. The many instances of friction arising from the asymmetrical superposition of the joined lines stand out particularly well and provoke a chill down the spine.

As to their version of “À la claire fontaine,” full of five-note chords, its intimate approach is better appreciated on the recording than in concert. That said, the added harmonic complexity seems unnecessary, being too removed from the original character and melody.

If the dangerously wavering tone of her violin, verging on being off-key at each intervention, diminishes the overall quality of the album, Lucyk largely compensates for it by the charming purity of her voice. In fact, her renditions of “Nancy’s Courtship” and “She’s Like the Swallow,” both a cappella, are some of the highlights of the recording. With Purcell’s “Sweeter Than Roses,” the singer also turns out to be very touching despite melismas that are not so carefully articulated. By comparison, Kerry Bursey proves to be perfectly versatile, as much due to the elegance of his tenor voice as to the richness of his lute-playing.

In short, an album that makes you feel good and is capable of soothing daily stresses.

Translation: Karine Poznanski