Tag: Renaissance

stile antico
72:57
harmonia mundi HMU 807575
Clemens non Papa: Motet/mass Pastores quidnam vidistis
+ Music by Eccard, Handl, Hassler, Hieronymus and Michael Praetorius & Vulpius

[dropcap]B[/dropcap]uilt around Clemens non Papa’s Christmas Mass Pastores quidnam vidistis, this collection brings us some of the less familiar Renaissance choral repertoire from the continent. Clemens’ Mass, elegant rather than profound, makes pleasant listening, as does his motet on which it is based, and the exquisitely fluid style of Stilo Antico, perfectly blended, beautifully tuned and phrased, serves perhaps to make adequate music sound special. The same is the case with the rather four-square German settings by Michael Praetrius, Johannes Eccard and Melchior Vulpius of vernacular texts, turned to musical gold by the beautifully expressive and crafted singing of Stilo Antico. The balance of the CD is made up with Latin motets by Handl and Hassler and a Magnificat by Hieronymus Praetorius. The daringly chromatic setting of Mirabile Mysterium by Handl exhibits the largely unappreciated skills of this lesser known composer, while his more declamatory Canite tuba demonstrates his versatility. Hassler’s exuberant Hodie Christus natus est is a complete delight, and Praetorius’ Magnificat with its very familiar Christmas ‘inserts’ is charming. There is a tiny recording issue in the second track where a background rumble which one could easily ignore turns rapidly on and off making it more obvious – I can hardly think this is the result of editing as the singing is perfectly continuous and only the rumble pops in and out. This is not enough to put off anybody from buying this superb CD, but a sharp-eared producer might have asked for a retake.
D. James Ross

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Sacqueboutiers, Ensemble Clément Janequin, Dominique Visse director
68:54
Flora 2410
Music by Attaignant, Bataille, Bertrand, Compère, Costeley, Janequin, Josquin, Lassus, Lejeune & Sermisy

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]or those acquainted with their work, it comes as no surprise that the Ensemble Clément Janequin have had a long association with the works of Rabelais. Their 1994 CD Une fête chez Rabelais was in itself the result of a successful concert programme, and this present CD was also preceded by a series of live performances. Such is the wealth of surviving Renaissance French chansons that the two CDs only have one chanson in common. The Sacqueboutiers, who nowadays have dropped their regional identifier ‘de Toulouse’, provide a forthright accompaniment for many of the numbers and some impressive instrumental numbers, while the singers, led by their distinctive alto/director Dominique Visse, present splendidly characterised performances of the songs. Over the years the Ensemble have made this area of Renaissance music their specialist realm, and their grainy, robust singing often skirting on the raucous, seems to me just right for the present project. Another major delight of this package is the selection of splendid readings largely from Rabelais’ Gargantua performed by the versatile-voiced Vincent Bouchot. It is unfortunate that the reader’s voice is given such an artificial studio acoustic, contrasting uncomfortably with the ‘live’ acoustic of the music, but Mons. Bouchot’s splendid Renaissance pronunciation carries all before it. Anglophone listeners will find the lack of translations a disadvantage, although the full texts of songs and readings are provided in French. The otherwise lavish accompanying book has excellent programme notes (in French only) and wonderful illustrations, some of the period (including the wonderful crumhorn-nosed figure on the cover), some designed specially for the publication.

D. James Ross

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Stimmwerck
62:10
cpo 777 937-2

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n many ways there is no more exposed singing scenario than one-to-a-part fifteenth century vocal music. It demands a perfect blend and perfect intonation, and that on vocal lines which sometimes seem to defy melodic logic. This CD presents an intriguing selection of 15th-century motets and songs which places the big names – Dufay, Pullois and Brassart – alongside lesser figures such as de Sarto, Martini and Krafft as well as airing several anonymous works from the period. Unfortunately the standard of the singing is variable, often very fine and nicely blended, but just occasionally settling badly on to chords. It would be invidious to highlight particular voices, but bringing guest voices into an established ensemble is always a hazardous business. There is a pleasant come-and-go to the dynamics and a nice sweep to the melodic lines, and articulation is generally effective although just occasionally detail is lost. This CD is well worth the investment for the wealth of relatively unknown material it contains, brought to light as part of a project exploring musical life in Austria in the late middle ages.

D. James Ross

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“Tradizione scritta e tradizione orale”
Aquila Altera Ensemble
59:18
Tactus TC 300004

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t is hard to pin down what case this CD is trying to make. The repertoire seems consist of works from written manuscript sources and, if the players are applying a huge degree of improvisation, this is not really apparent. In the case of the very familiar anonymous 15th-century Saltarello which appears as track 2 on the CD – it was used most notably as dance music in Zeffirelli’s film of Romeo and Juliet – it is hard to see what element of the oral culture has been applied to the printed source. The melody is repeated several times with different instrumental textures, but surely this is simply standard modern performance practice for this repertoire?

In some of the other pieces it is possible that there is a greater degree of improvisation, but not enough to establish the CD’s credentials as a discussion document on the subject. The performances are lively and generally engaging, but a rather thin and hissy recorded sound spoils the ambience and I was surprised to note that the recording was only two years old. Some of the of the more intensely-toned tracks such as those for soprano and recorders actually distort rather badly. Amongst the redeeming features is some terrific zampogna playing from Marco Cignitti and some very energetic dance numbers, but perhaps this programme needs to be streamlined and then brought into a studio for a higher-quality recording.

D. James Ross

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Music and Art from the Time of Caravaggio and Gentileschi
El Mundo, Richard Savino
76:26
Sono Luminus DSL-92195

[dropcap]F[/dropcap]or those, like me, less well versed in the sphere of Renaissance Italian art, the Artemisia of the title is Artemisia Gentileschi, the painter daughter of Orazio Gentileschi, upon whose life the current CD is based. The release of the CD coincides happily with the release of Alexandra Lapierre’s historical novel Artemisia, although Savino clearly had cold feet about marketing the CD purely under the name of Artemisia and has rather spuriously bolted on the much more familiar name of Caravaggio. Artemisia’s travels bring her to Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples and London, and Savino has assembled vocal and instrumental music from these five great cultural centres of the Renaissance.

This assemblage of music cleverly includes unfamiliar names such as Gagliano, Mazzocchi, Corbetta, Falconieri and Giramo among the more familiar Monteverdi, Caccini, Rossi and Lanier. The performances by the singers and instrumentalists of El Mundo are lively and heavily characterized, although I felt the group’s female voices occasionally sacrificed intonation in the interests of drama, which would become wearing on repeated listening, but when singing in ensemble this was less intrusive. On the positive side there is some lovely and unobtrusive vocal ornamaentation. The enormous continuo department includes Baroque guitars, harps, archlute, theorbos, harpsichord and organ, and as a result there is an engaging variety of instrumental colours on display. This is an enjoyable CD with a pleasing variety of music artfully performed, and from the paintings reproduced in the booklet Artemisia Gentileschi deserves more attention as a member of the small group of genuinely talented woman painters working in what was essentially a man’s world.

D. James Ross

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The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips
62:07
+ Dum transisset Sabbatum I & II
Gimell CDGIM 046

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s Peter Phillips readily points out in his programme notes, this is a setting of the mass in which the spotlight is seldom off the virtuosic top line of the choir, and his three superb trebles, Janet Coxwell, Amy Haworth and Emma Walshe are the principal virtue of this new recording. Sounding truly at home in the stratospheric heights in a way which I have not heard female trebles manage in previous recordings, they invest Taverner’s highly idiosyncratic lines with musicality and a radiant power. Cashing in on the complete security of the top line, Peter Philips takes the Mass setting at a more dignified pace than some previous recordings, allowing the true magnificence of Taverner’s polyphony to shine through. The result is probably the most impressive and thoroughly satisfying account of the Mass so far on record, and for those unfamiliar with the sound of high trebles, a truly thrilling experience. The detailed programme note provides a context for the work, although it never mentions the elephant in the room – why the trebles are singing at this stratospheric height in the first place. With the current debate on performance pitch generating more heat than light he is perhaps wise simply to stick to the group’s traditional adherence to the Wulstan doctrine of upward transposition, although listeners deserve to be told that large numbers of musicologists now dismiss the practice entirely, and revelatory performances of this very work at ‘written’ pitch make a powerful case against Wulstan’s theory. So perhaps Taverner never intended his music to sound quite like this, but like the stratospheric and equally fictional Allegri Miserere the results are undeniably thrilling. The CD is rounded off by lush performances of Taverner’s two settings of Dum transisset Sabbatum, a suitably calming episode after the thrills of the Mass.

D. James Ross

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Vocalconsort Berlin, Daniel Reuss
49:06
Accent ACC 24307
+ Angelus ad pastores ait, Ave Maria, Dixit Dominus, Magnificat super aurora lucis rutilat, Quem vidistis pastores & Videntes stellam

[dropcap]L[/dropcap]assus’ extraordinary settings of the thirteen Prophetiæ Sibyllarum belong to the same unsettled and unsettling harmonic sound-world as his tortured Tears of St Peter and a handful of his more troubled madrigals, all the close cousins of the music of Gesualdo. No harmonic progression seems to go in the anticipated direction, and occasionally chords spring from roots which neither prepare for nor build towards them. The results are constantly startling and occasionally disorientating, and constantly challenging to sing. The Vocalconsort of Berlin present performances of such assurance and complete security that it is salutary to recall just how hard this mercurial music is to sing. A perfect balance, utterly secure intonation and a constant inexorable sense of direction make this one of the most impressive recordings I have heard of this repertoire. The Prophetiæ Sibyllarum only make up half a programme, and the Consort add on a group of Christmas motets and the sonorous ten-part Magnificat super aurora lucis rutilat. Even with these bonus tracks the recording lasts for under 50 minutes, and some listeners may regard it as poor value, but bearing in mind the harmonic and intellectual density of the Prophetiæ I certainly didn’t feel short-changed. Anyone unfamiliar with the Prophetiae has a delight in store, and those already acquainted with some of Lassus’ most outlandish compositions will love the consummate professionality of these performances.

D. James Ross

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Laudantes Consort, Guy Janssens
54:09
sonamusica SONA1504
+Agimus tibi gratias, Infelix ego & Parce mihi Domine

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he urbanely elegant polyphony of Cipriano de Rore can sound a little impersonal, but the Mass Doulce Mémoire (based on the melancholy song of that name by de Roré’s French contemporary Pierre Sendrin) shows the suave international master also capable of emotion and passion. A composer whose portraits show an ascetic, gaunt of face and sunken of cheek, and who famously – and perhaps uniquely – failed to be charmed by Venice, is something of an enigma, and his music sometimes seems equally mysterious. The Laudantes Consort under their director Guy Janssens explores this enigma in the Mass Doulce Mémoire and three of de Rore’s most expressive and powerful motets, and generally sympathetic singing and direction provides insights into this intriguing music. If the strong top line masks occasional infelicities in the alto part, resulting perhaps from the mixed sex alto line-up, the overall sound is rich and tuneful. It is nice to see the name of Erik van Nevel, himself a prominent and perceptive conductor of this sort of repertoire, featuring in the bass section of the choir, and a highly readable and informative programme note by the eminent musicologist Ignace Bossuyt ensures that this is a valuable contribution to the enhancement of de Rore’s reputation.

D. James Ross

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Egidius Zwartet & College
157:20 (2 CDs)
Et’cetera KTC1415
Music by Flamingus, Hellinck, de Manchicourt, Mergot de Novo Portu, de Sermisy & anon

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he final 2CD volume in this exemplary series of recordings of music from the superb Leiden Choirbooks presents on the first CD two complete Mass settings by Lupus Hellinck and Pierre de Manchicourt respectively with motets by Johannes Flamingus and Franciscus Mergot de Novo Portu, while the second, perhaps more intriguingly, presents the Mass ‘Philomena’ by Claudin de Sermisy in a liturgical context, which also employs further polyphonic works by Flamingus and Joachimus de Monte from the sixth Leiden Choirbook. Avoiding the frequently recorded works by the established masters which also feature in the choirbooks, the performers have wisely concentrated on music we are unlikely to have heard before by composers whose names are less than household words. What is truly remarkable is the uniformly high quality of the music. The quality of the singing by the Egidius Quartet and College has improved throughout this protracted project, and they present the current programme with considerable authority. The lavish illustrations and the high quality programme notes to which we have become accustomed throughout the series also grace this final volume, leaving listeners with a suitably rich celebration of these remarkable musical volumes.

D. James Ross

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