Title: Allegri Miserere Performer: The Sixteen Director: Harry Christophers Year: 1990 Length: 32 minutes Review
Now we are still in the realm of the vocal performances but it is interestingly some quite different music. Palestrina really comes to revolutionise the polyphonic mass with this. This is polyphony which is actually very intelligible!
Palestrina give us just one line of music to which embellishments are added with the other voices, this makes the text much more understandable. If you imagine motets as a forest of bamboo sticks, each corresponding to a voice, this is more like one big trunk with a lot of saplings growing from it.
So there is a very distinct sound here, and it is no surprise that this is one of those compositions that is still studied today by students at universities. It is a very beautiful composition and actually quite touching in this very powerful interpretation by the sixteen.
Track Highlights
1. Gloria 2. Credo 3. Sanctus Et Benedictus 4. Agnus Dei I
Final Grade
9/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
In 1607, the composer Agostino Agazzari wrote:
Music of the older kind is no longer in use, both because of the confusion and babel of the words, arising from the long and intricate imitations, and because it has no grace, for with all the voices singing, one hears neither period nor sense, these being interfered with and covered up by imitations...And on this account music would have come very near to being banished from the Holy Church by a sovereign pontiff [Pius IV], had not Giovanni Palestrina founded the remedy, showing that the fault and error lay, not with the music, but with the composers, and composing in confirmation of this the Mass entitled Missa Papae Marcelli.
– Quoted in Taruskin, Richard, and Weiss, Piero. Music in the Western World:A History in Documents. Schirmer, 1984, p. 141.
Title: Lassus - Missa Surge Propera Performer: The Cardinall's Musick Director: Andrew Carwood Year: 2004 Length: 37 minutes
Review
As you can see by the title it is another bunch of Motets. More unaccompanied motets... but they are quite good, Lassus is definitely in a different league than the average composer, his compositions show a lot more focus in terms of the music. The music is dramatic and the voices aren't as spread out as in most polyphony, Lassus is able to converge and disperse them at will for great dramatic effect.
That being said the whole format of the motet is pretty rigid and therefore it is not as great a departure as one might expect. And for music that was composed in a space of 50 years the diferences between the pieces are minimal. If we think about the evolution of music in the last 50 years of the 20th century we get a more telling contrast.
We will really have to wait for the 17th century, particularly the second half of it, to start getting quite different music but it is thankfully around the corner. In the meantime Lassus makes some more lovely motets to add to this list. Track Highlights
1. Quam Pulchra Es 2. Tota Pulchra Es 3. Magnificat Quatri Toni 4. Surge Propera Amica Mea
Final Grade
8/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
One of the most prolific, versatile, and universal composers of the late Renaissance, Lassus wrote over 2000 works in all Latin, French, Italian and German vocal genres known in his time. These include 530 motets, 175 Italian madrigals and villanellas, 150 French chansons, and 90 German lieder. No strictly instrumental music by Lassus is known to survive, or ever to have existed: an interesting omission for a composer otherwise so wide-ranging and prolific, during an age when instrumental music was becoming an ever-more prominent means of expression, all over Europe.
Title: The Lamentations Of Jeremiah Performer: Hilliard Ensemble Director: Hilliard Ensemble Year: 1986 Length: 22 minutes
Review
Well this is an altogether gloomier piece of polyphony, there is none of the joy of most motets, it is a thoroughly haunting affair. This is not a criticism, however, I am not here to be made happy but to appreciate music.
And this is quite an effective piece of music, it is infused with a quite beautiful sadness, at the same time ethereal and deep. Again the recording is faultless, and seeing as this list chooses the best recording of pieces which have many times been recorded time and time again, like this one, it is only natural that there isn't much to point at in the performances, even if I was an expert.
Again, I liked this, but all this polyphony is slowly kind of melting together into one big pot. I need something different to come soon. Save me St. Baroque. Track Highlights
1. De Lamentatione 2. Incipit Lamentatio
Final Grade
8/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
Thomas Tallis made two famous sets of the Lamentations. Scored for five voices (either one on a part or in a choral context), they show a sophisticated use of imitation, and are noted for their expressiveness. The settings are of the first two lessons for Maundy Thursday. As many other composers do, Tallis also sets the announcements ('Incipit Lamentatio...', and 'De Lamentatione...') the Hebrew letters that headed each verse (Aleph, Beth for the first set, Gimel, Daleth, Heth for the second), and the concluding refrain 'Ierusalem, Ierusalem... (Jerusalem, Jerusalem, turn again to the Lord thy God)—thus emphasising the sombre and melancholy effect of the pieces. Tallis's two settings happen to use successive verses, but the pieces are in fact independent even though performers generally sing both settings together. Composers have been free to use whatever verses they wish, since the liturgical role of the text is somewhat loose; this accounts for the wide variety of texts that appear in these pieces.
Title: Tientos y Glosados Performer: Ensemble Accentus Director: Thomas Wimmer Year: 2001 Length: 12 minutes
Review
It is a pity that this recording is so short, because this is some sublime music. This recording consists of four Diferencias by Cabezon, Diferencias are basically the equivalent of Variations. There is a main theme which is then embelished or otherwise improved by the composer.
The themes are all of quite well known songs by the time the composer made the variations on them. The third diferencia is particularly well known being based on the song, Belle qui tiens ma vie/Captive dans tes yeux. That one is particularly beautiful but the other ones are not far behind.
Thankfully this is a fully instrumental recording of chamber music, and a good break from all the vocals lately on the list. This freshness might have something to do with how much I loved this album, but it isn't the only reason these are some genuinely beautiful tracks. Highly Recommended.
Track Highlights
1. Diferencias sobre el canto de La Dama le Demanda 2. Diferencias sobre Guarda me las vacas 3. Diferencias sobre el canto del Cauallero 4. Diferencias sobre la Gallarda Milanesa
Final Grade
9/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
Antonio de Cabezón (1510–March 26, 1566) was a Spanish composer and organist of the Renaissance. He was blind from early childhood.
He is best known for his Tientos—short, intense, liturgical and polyphonic works for organ.
Many of his compositions have survived and are still readily accessible today, in sheet music and recorded form. He produced some of the earliest extant music for solo organ.
The song on which Diferencias sobre el canto de La Dama le Demanda is based on:
Title: Morales en Toledo - Polifonia inédita del Codice 25 Performer: Ensemble Plus Ultra Director: Michael Noone Year: 2004 Length: 1 hour 17 minutes Review
Yet another polyphonic vocal recording, frankly I am becoming more of an expert on this than I ever had an interest in becoming. It has certainly been informative if sometimes somewhat dull due to a certain sameness of the recordings. Fortunately the next album is something different.
Okay now to the recording at hand, as we have come to expect the recording itself is flawless, and the music is quite lovely. Morales seems to have a more focused style of composing in the sense that the polyphony is not as dispersed as in some of the things we have been listening to. It has a more dramatic sense than most works of its kind in the way the voices come together to express certain important points of the text, most other Motet composers did the same but in Morales it is somehow more apparent. Another thing which this recording makes great use of is the plainchant embedded in the tracks themselves.
This said I could do with a break from Motets, motet-like masses or motet-like settings of texts. That is maybe why this album hasn't fascinated me that much. Good enough but not different enough to grab me.
Track Highlights
1. Asperges me 2. Eripe me 3. Ave Maris Stella 4. Et factum est postquam Final Grade
8/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
Morales was the first Spanish composer of international renown. His works were widely distributed in Europe, and many copies made the journey to the New World. Many music writers and theorists in the hundred years after his death considered his music to be among the most perfect of the time.
Requiem Aeternam from Missa Pro Defunctis by Cristobal de Morales:
Title: Gombert, Eight-Part Credo - Media Vita - Haec Dies - Vae, Vae, Babylon - Salve Regina 'Diversi Diversa Orant' - Lugebat David Absalon and other motets. Performer: Henry's Eight Director: Jonathan Brown Year: 1996 Length: 1 hour 10 minutes
Review
I could honestly start listening to something else other than motets or associated polyphonic church music at the moment, but no such luck for your indefatigable reviewer. Motets it is.
Again this is a very nice recording, it does the same thing that the recording of Des Prez's Mass did in the sense that it includes the plainchants where it is applicable just before the Gombert motets. This is always a good thing because it truly gives you a sense of contrast at how different polyphony was and it always gives you a sesne of the song 'kicking in' when ti gets to the polyphony making it that more exciting.
So is this an indispensable addition to your library? Not really unless you went motet mad, you could do much worse than this lovely collection although the best Motets are still Dufay's for my money. But there are still more to come, YAY! So I might be proven wrong.
The Credo here is particularly good, a relentless piece ofm usic with little breathing space, so if you must get only one Motet by Gombert get that one. Track Highlights
1. Credo 2. O beata Maria 3. Lugebat David Absalon 4. Media vita in morte sumus
Final Grade
8/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
According to contemporary physician and mathematician Girolamo Cardano, writing in Theonoston (1560), in 1540 Gombert was convicted of gross indecency with a boy in his care and was sentenced to hard labor in the galleys. The exact duration of his service in the galleys is not known, but he was able to continue composing for at least part of the time. Most likely he was pardoned sometime in or before 1547, the date he sent a letter along with a motet from Tournai. The Magnificat settings preserved uniquely in manuscript in Madrid are often held to have been the "swansongs" that according to Cardano won his pardon, though an alternative hypothesis (Lewis 1994) is that Cardano was referring to the highly penitential First Book of four-part motets. It is unclear how long Gombert lived after his pardon or what positions, if any, he held; his career faded into relative obscurity after being freed. He may have retired to Tournai, and spent his last years as a canon at the cathedral there. In 1556, Hermann Finck mentioned that he was still living, and in 1561 Cardano wrote that he was dead.
Title: Western Wind Masses Performer: Tallis Scholars Director: Peter Phillips Year: 2001 Length: 32 mins.
Review
Here we go, another mass, this time by John Taverner, this is yet another quite good bit of polyphony, but nothing too spectacular or two new. In fact as I have in some t-shirt somewhere 'Taverner was no Des Prez'.
So this another Mass, pretty enough but lacking in any particular innovation or individual qualities. We have heard it before and better done. I should, however not that the Tallis Scholars recording is particularly good, the Cd contains two other Western Wind Masses, based on this one, so if you have a particular interest in it, it is the thing to check out.
The performance is flawless again, and this is the third Tallis Scholars recording in a row for a reason, so nothing to complain about there, but I would have liked Taverner to do something more for me. Track Highlights
1. Credo 2. Agnus Dei
Final Grade
7/10
Trivia
From Wikipedia:
Taverner was the first Organist and Master of the Choristers at Christ Church, Oxford, appointed by Thomas Cardinal Wolsey in 1526. The college had been founded in 1525 by Cardinal Wolsey, and was then known as Cardinal College. Immediately before this, Taverner had been a clerk fellow at the Collegiate Church of Tattershall, Lincolnshire. In 1528 he was reprimanded for his (probably minor) involvement with Lutherans, but escaped punishment for being "but a musician". Wolsey fell from favour in 1529, and in 1530 Taverner left the college.
Here you go, a Sanctus from another Taverner Mass, Gloria Tibi Trinitas:
