The quiet splendor of this piece is built on the subtle, masterful touches, and minor digressions from the main melodic path, like the unusual cadential figure on "veir": an octave leap upwards, followed by another whole step upward and a falling minor third. In the context of his artfully restrained music a tiny figure like that is wonderfully striking. It is his very restraint that makes it possible for such small details that would be practically imperceptible in more flamboyant music to send noticeable chills up the human spine. Binchois uses the restraint as the canvas on which he plays for evocative effects. The whole of De plus en plus is carefully, exquisitely shaped to have internal contrasts, and a keen subtle diversity of melodic colors and shifts of harmonic inflections. There is an especially gorgeous, unusually florid, figure on "nouvelle" perfectly set up to carry the strong sense of longing in the piece. We hear this, to our restrained delight, as an actual, effective miniature-climax. The other still more subtle emotion at play is something that seems to come purely through the performers: the music is such a delight to sing, and fits so comfortably with the voice, that it's hard not to brightly smile on the inside; this shines through.

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