Recording
Title: Josquin - Masses
Performer: Tallis Scholars
Director: Peter Phillips
Year: 1986
Length: 35 minutes
Review
This is a particularly interesting album, because before the mass proper you have the plainchant of Pange Lingua and so you can see where Josquin is coming from in his mass. The plainchant track is actually quite dull, as is most Gregorian chanting, but it is in Josquin's polyphonic adaptation of it that the music shines.
It is a pretty great insight into the genius of Des Prez, and the great thing that polyphony in general is when compared to the dullness of plainchant. The mass itself is beautiful, with some of the same sense of drama of the Browne Stabat Mater that we had here yesterday.
This is also the first of many masses that we will have in this list. And it is definitely a good start to them. Josquin was one of the superstars of the early renaissance and it is easy to see the why. Listen to this.
Track Highlights
1. Gloria
2. Credo
3. Agnus Dei
4. Sanctus & Benedictus
Final Grade
8/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
The Missa Pange lingua is considered to be Josquin's last mass. It was not available to Ottaviano Petrucci for his 1514 collection of Josquin's masses, the third and last of the set; additionally, the mass contains references to other late works such as the Missa de Beata Virgine and the Missa Sine nomine. It was not formally published until 1539 (by Hans Ott, in Nuremberg), although manuscript sources dating from Josquin's lifetime contain the work. Famous copyist Pierre Alamire included this mass at the beginning of one of his two compilations of masses by Josquin.
The Kyrie by the Westminster Cathedral Choir:
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