early music

CD Review, early music, File Under?

Orlando Consort Continues Their Machaut Edition (CD Review)

Orlando Consort

Machaut: The Fount of Grace

Hyperion Records

Matthew Venner, countertenor; Mark Dobell and Angus Smith, tenors; Donald Greig, baritone

 

Guilliame de Machaut (1300-1377) was a supremely talented poet and composer. He was an innovator, creating the first polyphonic Mass and developing polyphony in chansons as well. After Machaut, there is little evidence of composers in the Medieval era who set their own words to music. Works devoted to courtly love make up the majority of his output. Fount of Grace adds several topics to that of love poems: devotional and historial components loom larger than on other recordings of Machaut by Orlando Consort. 

 

After thirty-five years, Orlando Consort gave their last performance on June 7, 2023. The Fount of Grace is the tenth of eleven recordings of Orlando’s survey of Machaut. The title references a name for the Virgin Mary, to whom some of the programmed works offer devotions, explicitly or in a veiled fashion.

 

Le lay de la fonteinne is the most overtly religious, petitioning the Blessed Virgin for love and grace. Like traditional lays, the rhythm scheme and melodic framework are complex, with different rhythms and melodies in each couplet, apart from the first and last, which provide a refrain to begin and end the piece. Odd-numbered lines are monophonic, while even-numbered lines are performed as three voice unison canons; a reference to the trinity that, late in the piece, is supported by an evocation of its formula. The singing of the canons is quite beautiful, with the overlapped lines delivered with clear diction and vivacious rhythms. At over twenty-four minutes in duration, it is by far the program’s longest work and, thematically, its centerpiece.

 

Machaut also references occurrences of his day, a particularly fraught time in France, beleaguered with plague, pestilence, and the Hundred Year’s War, which at the time of these compositions was going quite badly for the French. The motet Tu qui gregem/plange regni/Apprehende arma is an example. It references taking up arms against the foe at a point during the Hundred Years War when the nobles of France were in desperate straits, with some taken hostage by the English forces. Likewise, Christe qui lux/Veni creator spiritus/Tribulatio proxima est implores Christ to be with those in danger. The counterpoint, which includes canonic and free passages, is finely knit, with upper voices Matthew Venner and Mark Dobell leading off the proceedings with an ardent duo that, soon enough, is accompanied by the other voices in fascinating overlapping relations. The ballade Donne Signeurs, urges noblemen to be good to their subjects. A sustained tune sung by tenor Angus Smith, an upper register melody performed by Venner, and harmonies incorporated by the other vocalists, with a sonorous bass line by Donald Greig, create a fascinating, vibrating texture. 

 

Courtly love is not neglected on the program. Two versions of the Rondeau Tant doucement me sens emprisonnez are included, one for two voices and the other four. The theme of being imprisoned by love is a venerable one among chansons, and this text expresses it well. The duet’s two voices move at different rates, with a fetching melismatic top voice. The quartet is even more varied in rhythmic activity. With Tant doucement … Machaut creates a tour-de-force times two in the chanson genre.

 

The Orlando Consort still sound in fine voice and will be sorely missed. At least we have one more Machaut recording to which to look forward. 

 

-Christian Carey



by Christian Carey
CD Review, early music, File Under?

De Profundis Sings Morales (CD Review)

Morales: Missa Desilde al cavallero, Missa Mille Regretz, Magnificat Primi Toni

De Profundis, directed by Eamonn Dougan and Robert Hollingsworth

Hyperion Records

 

Cambridge’s De Profundis has quickly become a go-to ensemble for Spanish vocal repertoire from the Renaissance. An all-male group with a sonorous sound that includes an incomparable bass section (hence the group name), they have released extraordinary recordings of Vivanco, Esquivel, and Ribera. Now De Profundis is turning its attention to Cristobal de Morales (c. 1500-1553), with a projected 12-album project to record his masses and Magnificat settings. The first disc in the collection, released in 2023,  includes Missa Desilde al cavallero, Missa Mille Regretz, and the Magnificat Primi Toni.

 

Often nicknamed “The Golden Age,” the mid-to-late Renaissance was indeed a fertile time for composers in Spain. During the first half of the sixteenth century, Morales was one of the finest of them. His music followed the death of Josquin and preceded that of Victoria, Lassus, and Palestrina. He held prestigious positions as part of the Papal Choir and at Toledo Cathedral, but according to musicologist Kenneth Kreitner, frequently suffered from illness that steadily caused a decline in his ability to perform his duties. Whatever ailment plagued Morales, he continued to compose until near his passing. Even in the sixteenth century, fifty-three-ish would not be considered a ripe old age. Still, Morales left behind a large body of compelling music. It should be exciting to experience it in the De Profundis edition. 

 

Mille Regretz is a famous chanson by Josquin, performed here with light instrumental accompaniment. Morales uses it to create a cantus firmus mass, a common form at the time in which a pre-existing piece of music was used in long note values throughout a mass. Here, it is offset by a newly composed superius part. There are two versions of the Sanctus and portions of the Agnus Dei, one in an earlier manuscript and then revised movements in the printed copy, which have helpfully been supplied here side by side for comparison. Morales likely preferred the later version, but the canonic material from its earlier incarnation is truly rousing. It is not surprising that this is Morales’s most famous mass setting, both for its Josquin hat tip and extraordinarily beautiful music.

 

During his lifetime, Magnificat settings by Morales were even more highly regarded than his Mass settings. Written during his time in Rome in the Papal choir, Magnificat Primi Toni is quite dramatic in its declamation, particularly the “Fecit Potentiam.” The “Quia Respexit” unfurls staggered contrapuntal entrances, a device that is used to stirring effect in a number of passages. Although the bass section has already been lauded, the countertenors sing with exquisite tone and control, as evidenced by the “Quia fecit mihi magna” and “Et misericordia eus.” 

After two works among Morales’s best known music, the CD concludes with a relatively obscure mass, Missa Desilde al cavallero, found in only a single copy. It deserves wider currency. Based on an anonymous 16th century Spanish song, the mass sits astride cantus firmus and parody types, an amalgam that Morales exploits with insightful creativity. An accompanied solo performance of the song is quite lovely, giving context to the mass that follows. Organ and bajón, an early version of the bassoon, provide accompaniment to the mass as well. The entire performance is compelling, but there are some highlights. The shimmering close of the Gloria, buoyed by corruscating lines, and the finely-tuned chords of the Credo’s “Et incarnatus est,” leading into a gently rendered Crucifixus. As was the custom, the Osanna sections feature buoyant fuga, followed by the incandescent ambience of the Agnus Dei movements. 

 

De Profundis will release the next volume of the Morales edition in 2024. In the meantime, revel in its auspicious beginning.

 

-Christian Carey

 

 


by Christian Carey
CD Review, Choral Music, Contemporary Classical, early music, File Under?

love & light – iSing Silicon Valley (CD Review)

love & light

iSing Silicon Valley, conducted by Jennah Delp Somers

Esteli Gomez, soprano; Cheryl Ann Fulton, harp

Avie Records

 

On love & light, the girl’s choir iSing Silicon Valley performs a program of ancient liturgical chants and Latin motets by contemporary composers. Many include the dulcet accompaniment of harpist Cheryl Ann Fulton, who arranges early music for the harp. Os Mutorum by James Macmillan opens the recording with a gentle spirit, introducing the listener to a program emphasizing healing and uplift. Star power and fetching lyrical singing is provided by soprano Esteli Gomez. Her performance on Kile Smith’s Psalm 113 is a particular standout. 

 

Jennah Delp Somers has fashioned an impressive program with iSing. Consisting of three hundred girl singers, it emphasizes recruiting from different cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds to bring communities together. Not only is this worthy advocacy, but iSing performs beautifully under Delp Somers’s direction. Performing challenging yet abundantly appealing works  such as Kenyon Duncan’s hocket filled chorea lucis, Gabriel Jackson’s ebullient Ubi Flumen Praesulis, and the luscious, harmonically intricate Lux Aeterna by Sunji Hong, the group displays a commanding presence that belies their ages. The latter piece was new to me, and has become a particular favorite.

 

Like much of Hildegard’s music, O Virtus Sapientiae has a wide ranging melody. Gomez sings it with command and  rhythmic fluidity, accompanied by recessed voices carrying a sustained chord for accompaniment. Anonymous early music is arranged for the ensemble and harp. O Maris, Stella Maris, on which Gomez sings the chant, is memorable among these. Also affecting is a harp solo based on O Columba. The group performs Salve Virgo Virginum with immaculate diction and pacing. 

 

Monstra Te Esse Matrem, by Kile Smith features polychords interspersed with solo sections by Fulton. Soft dynamics are performed with exquisite control. Three pieces by Andrew Smith (no relation), Ave Regina Caelorum, Ave Maria, and Regina Caeli, round out the program. Ave Regina Caelorum combines chant with chordal stacked seconds that in places sounds like the tintinnabuli style of Arvo Pärt. Ave Maria once again harmonizes chant with lush chords. The high-lying soprano line is impressively performed. Regina Caeli begins with the chorus singing chant that is succeeded by overlapping lines and bright harmonies. 

 

If more communities had this kind of program for young people, that fosters connections but cedes nothing of musical excellence, think of what America’s support for the arts would look like. Recommended

 

-Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey
CD Review, early music, File Under?

Marian Consort Sings Motets by Lusitano (CD Review)

Vicente Lusitano

Motets

The Marian Consort

Rory McCleery, director

Linn Records

 

Congratulations to Sequenza 21 contributor Garrett Schumann for his first article in the New York Times, about sixteenth century composer Vicente Lusitano. Along with colleagues, Schumann has researched the background of Lusitano, who was active in  Portugal until sometime after 1561. A document, albeit one with some chronological distance from his death, labels Lusitano as a “pardo,” a person of African descent. This alone might seem circumstantial, but Schumann cites other, more contemporaneous, evidence about liturgical and cultural practices that support this theory. Our conception of Renaissance composers strictly as white males has been shifted with the greater awareness of talented female composers of the era. Although scholars have been aware of Lusitano as a pardo for some time, the Times article and recent work by period ensembles, the Marian Consort prominent among them, further expands public consciousness to encompass people of color in the repertoire of the Renaissance.

 

The Marian Consort’s recording for Linn Records of Lusitano contains ten of his motets, including the substantial Inviolata, integra et casta es. Based in England, the Marian Consort sings one-to-a-part and is directed by Rory McCleery. The resonant recording venue, All Hallows’ Gospel Oak in London, along with Linn’s characteristically excellent sound, provides reinforcement that belies this small complement of voices. At the same time, the group sings with fulsome clarity, delineating each line and contrapuntal combination.

 

Lusitano’s music is of the same chronology as the mid century “forgotten generation” on the continent, composers such as Gombert, Willaert, and Clemens non Papa. But on the Iberian peninsula, styles tended to lag behind; Palestrina’s style was still being practiced well into the seventeenth century. Well-traveled and a respected music theorist who studied chromaticism, Lusitano’s work was more adventurous than his Portuguese contemporaries. A piece found in one of his treatises  featuring abundant chromaticism, Heu me, Domine, is included on the Marian recording. If one were to only hear this work, they would think that Lusitano was rubbing elbows with Gesualdo and company in Naples, instead of a generation their senior. The Marian Consort performs Heu me, Domine with exquisite, period-informed tuning. 

 

The rest of the motets come from Lusitano’s single printed collection, Liber primus epigramatum, published in 1551. They are less chromatic than Heu me, Domine, but display some examples of interest in this regard. Emendus in melius features several harmonic twists and turns.

 

All was not forward looking for Lusitano. Josquin, a composer of the previous generation, was a favorite touchstone. He frequently used texts set by the elder composer and parodied his motets. The Salve Regina, in particular, includes fragments in homage to Josquin. Praeter rerum serium, another parody work, is in eight voices, expanding Josquin’s six. Like the earlier version, it retains a slow moving chant line in the upper voice. One can also hear Josquin’s musical influence in imitative duos, such as those in Regina caeli laetare.

 

The most elaborate of parodies by Lusitano of Josquin is the eight-voice Inviolata, integra et casta es, adding three voices to Josquin’s five. It preserves the earlier motet’s division into three sections and a canon at the fifth. This is transplanted into the rich vocabulary of Lusitano’s generation. At twelve minutes, it is a monument to the achievements of Lusitano. One eagerly awaits more music by the composer, including a forthcoming recording by Chineke!

-Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey
CD Review, early music, File Under?

András Schiff – Clavichord on ECM (CD Review)

J.S. Bach

András Schiff

Clavichord

 

He was the best organist in Europe and a mean harpsichordist too, but Johann Sebastian Bach loved playing the clavichord. The intimacy of its soft dynamic range, supple tone, and the ability to have an aftertouch with a slight vibrato made the instrument a distinctive one, ideal for small rooms: for practice or to be played for a few listeners. András Schiff has distinguished himself as one of the premiere Bach pianists of our time, making a convincing case for the music to be realized on a concert grand. He has recorded extensively for ECM’s New Series, the Goldberg Variations (2001)  the Six Partitas (2007), and both books of the Well-Tempered Clavier (2012). On Clavichord, he turns to the smaller instrument, playing a double CD recording of works eminently suited for it. In the program notes, Schiff says that he always begins his day with Bach. While he used to do so on the piano, it is now the clavichord that occupies his early hours. The period instrument used for the recording was built by Joris Potvlieghe in 2003 and is a replica of the unfretted Specken clavichord of 1743.

 

The clavichord thrives in contrapuntal textures of two or three voices. Thus Schiff has assembled a number of pieces without the thickened textures of the largest fugues. The standouts of the recording are the 2-part Inventions and 3-part Symphonias. Schiff adopts tempos that often are more deliberate than his renditions on the piano, reflecting the action of the clavichord. One can still play quickly, however, as he demonstrates with a fleet-fingered rendition of the F-major Invention. The architectural shaping of pieces like the E-flat major Sinfonia elucidates its form with consummate elegance. The Sinfonias in D and E both adopt dance rhythms, which are performed with verve.

 

Four Duets (BWV 802-805) demonstrate that even in a two-voice texture, Bach could create considerable contrapuntal interest and spicy chromatic inflections. Schiff plays these with a period-informed sense of fluidity of tempo. The Capriccio BWV 992 has a characteristic flair, with subtitles that detail a person being entreated by his friends not to undertake a journey. This is something we would more likely see from Beethoven or Schumann. The variations, on the tune Lontanza del fratello dilettissimo, include multiple arias and finish with a jaunty “Fuga al posta ” – a postcard from abroad!

 

Clavichord includes two particularly imposing pieces. The Ricercar á 3 is from the Musical Offering, the composer’s late career gift to Frederick the Great. The Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue (BWV 903) is a virtuosic masterpiece. Schiff digs in, relishing every moment and showing us the full capacity of the clavichord as an instrument that should be better known. 

 

  • Christian Carey 
by Christian Carey
CD Review, early music, File Under?

Mother, Sister, Daughter: Musica Secreta Sings the Stories of Women (CD Review)

Mother, Sister, Daughter

Musica Secreta, directed by Laurie Stras

Lucky Music

 

Over a career that spans thirty years, Musica Secreta has established themselves as one of the premiere all-female vocal ensembles. They have recorded a number of pieces by women, expanding the repertoire of Renaissance music and our understanding of the social, liturgical,  and artistic circles in which it was disseminated. The theme of this recording is “storytelling:” how stories, poems, and music were crafted to connect generations of women, hence Mother, Sister, Daughter as its title. While many of the pieces are anonymous, the circumstances in which they were copied and performed give clues as to their provenance. The recording isn’t strictly of works attributed to women – there are pieces by Antoine Brumel and Jean Mouton – but these also extol the relationships between women, particularly those who have entered a convent.

 

Missa de Beata Virgine is a partial setting of the Ordinary, containing a Kyrie and troped Gloria with extra texts that extol the Virgin Mary. Here as elsewhere, instruments are used to accompany and to flesh out the texture; organ in particular, but also harp (including bray harp and double harp), and treble and bass viols. This is consistent with the practice of music-making in convents. Musica Secreta has a well-blended sound with  just enough brightness in the sopranos and a warm timbre in the mezzo/alto cohort. The solo chants are prepared with the character of the individual voices in mind. One of the main selections, The Vespers of St. Lucy was likely composed in a convent devoted to St. Lucia in Verona. The notes, by ensemble director Laurie Stras, are fastidiously annotated: I would recommend reading them before diving in to listening. The Vespers include five brief movements that tell the story of St. Lucy. The full group’s singing is fetchingly contrasted with smaller subsections.  

 

Ave mater matris Dei, attributed to Jean Mouton, consists of vocal canons accompanied by the organ, the refrains opening up to sumptuous tutti. Virgo Maria speciosissima, attributed to Leonora d’Este, of that most famous of families, consists of overlapping waves in the voices performed with artful coordination by Musica Secreta. It is one of the standouts on the recording. 

 

The other prominent collections on the recording are two sets of Vespers from San Matteo in Florence, dedicated to Saint Clare. After a plainchant opening is the beautiful Mundi totius gloriam, with high-lying dovetailing lines alternating once again with chant. The group chants are paced with a welcome sense of forward momentum. The hymn En praeclara virgo Clara and a Salve sponsa Dei setting conclude the second set of Vespers with radiant polyphonic singing. 

 

A contemporary piece, commissioned by the ensemble from Joanna Marsh, completes the CD program (two additional pieces are available on the digital recording). The Veiled Sisters explores the entire compass of the group, beginning with a low-lying melody in the altos that is succeeded by upper register divisi. The two then meld into a formidable tutti. Marsh deftly incorporates contemporary harmonies and expanded ranges while using the resources of Musica Secreta is a way consistent with their approach on the rest of the recording; organ accompanies them and the alternation of textures creates a connection between old and new. 

 

In recent years, research and performance of women’s music from the Renaissance has come a long way, in no small part to Musica Secreta and Laurie Stras. It is heartening to learn that, even five hundred years ago, the stories women told to one another provided strength, agency, and, in the case of song, great beauty. 

 

-Christian Carey



by Christian Carey
CD Review, Choral Music, early music, File Under?

File Under Favorites 2022 – Cupertinos Perform Pedro de Cristo

 

Pedro de Cristo 

Magnificat

Cupertinos, Luís Toscano, director

https://www.cupertinos.pt/en/presentation/

Hyperion Records

 

During the “Golden Age” of Portuguese Polyphony, the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, composers on the Iberian Peninsula retained a more conservative idiom that has often been likened to Palestrina’s approach to counterpoint and declamation. Thus, the style of the Renaissance was retained longer than on the rest of the continent or in England. The mastery that resulted in this cultivation elevated composers such as Duarte Lobo (c.1565-1646), Manuel Cardoso (1566-1650), and Miguel de Magalhães (1c. 571-1652) to considerable acclaim, affording them patronage from King John IV and the opportunity to publish their works. Less famous is Pedro de Cristo (c. 1550-1618), who, despite having some 250 compositions attributed to him, did not have any published. He initially served as chapelmaster at the monastery of Santa Cruz and later held the same position at the monastery São Vicente in Lisbon. 

 

Musicologist and conductor Owen Rees has done considerable research on Cristo’s music, creating an edition of works from extant manuscripts and recording select pieces (one wishes his discs of Portuguese music would be reissued). Musicologists José Abreu and Paulo Estudiante have done heroic work to restore Cristo’s manuscripts, some of which through the years have been quite damaged. But there has, to my knowledge, yet to be a disc entirely devoted to Cristo’s music. 

 

Enter Cupertinos, directed by Luís Toscano. The Portuguese vocal ensemble have already made a couple of acclaimed discs of this repertory, music by Manuel Cardoso and Duarte Lobo,  and now have turned their attention to a disc of Marian-inspired music by Cristo, with several first recordings. Mary, the Mother of Jesus, played a central role during the Golden Age, with John IV supporting her significance to Portuguese life and faith practices in a variety of ways. 

 

Appropriately enough, the recording begins with an alternatim setting of the Magnificat. One is introduced to a space that is resonant but not too reverberant for a chamber choir to enunciate with clarity. Cupertinos have a well-balanced sound, with bright-toned sopranos offset by lithe lower voices. Their tuning is fastidious and breath control impressive, even in longer phrases. Toscano trusts the group to maintain support in tempos in which the tactus often seemed to me to be slightly on the slow side. The approach benefits declamation, the words delivered with clarity throughout.

 

The centerpiece of the recording is the Missa Salve Regina, in which the famous chant melody is used as material shared between the voices in small segments. The use of imitation is particularly well wrought in the Agnus Dei sections, which is interrupted by a long incipit in the second Agnus that forestalls the climax of the piece, allowing a buildup that ends the mass in rousing fashion. 

 

A number of Marian motets are programmed, depicting different aspects of the Mother of Jesus. My favorite is the “Alma redemptoris mater,” in which fugal entrances are used to create a swath of counterpoint. It is a piece one imagines many choirs could sing well and one that would buoy concert programs. This is equally true of the effusive “Regina caeli.” The performance of “Stabat Mater,” a lament for Mary’s grief at seeing the sufferings of Christ, contrasts this with a wrenching, emotive performance. 

 

The disc closes with a polychoral setting of Cristo’s “Ave Maria” setting. The use of antiphony makes the most of splitting the choir in various ways and there are shimmering moments in which the upper voices sing interior cadences. When all eight parts join together near the piece’s conclusion, it brings the recording to a rousing conclusion. One hopes that Cupertino’s advocacy encourages more groups to take up De Cristo’s music. It would be helpful if Rees’ transcriptions could be published individually in performing editions. In addition, the ensemble should record Magalhães next. 

 

The Cristo CD is one of our Favorites of 2022.

 

-Christian Carey



by Christian Carey
CD Review, early music, File Under?

Sandrine Piau – Handel Enchantresses (CD Review_

 

Handel: Enchantresses

Sandrine Piau, soprano

Les Paladins, Jérôme Correas, director

Alpha Classics

 

Soprano Sandrine Piau is a versatile artist who has compellingly performed a wide range of repertoire. Handel has remained a touchstone for Piau, and on Handel:Enchantresses, she explores a different subset of characters than the heroines and ingenues that were her bread and butter as a young singer. Handel is one of the great composers at illustrating grief, despair, and tempestuousness. The characters who inhabit these traits are given a showcase on this Alpha Classics CD. 

 

Piau’s theatrical and expressive capabilities are on full display here. Rinaldo’s “Il Vostro Maggio,” a lament that is most touching, is delivered with considerable poignancy. Another lament, “Piangeró la Sorte Mia,” from Giulio Cesare in Egitto, alternates between aching appoggiaturas and a slow tempo in the outer sections and a middle section with fiery sixteenths. “Alla Salma Infedel,” from Lucrezia, is filled with closely spaced chromaticism, and Piau navigates her upper register with superlative control. 

 

The soprano’s runs are fleet and clear, as evidenced on “Da Tempeste,” also from  Guilio Cesare in Egitto, in which Cleopatra’s exults over her union with Julius Caesar. Sung with wide-ranging cadenzas and quickly rendered coloratura, this is tailor-made for Piau. “Scherza in mar la navicella,” from Lotario, is another showcase for fast-paced and wide-ranging singing that is as exciting as it is exactingly performed. “Ah! Mio cori,” from Alcina, is a riveting twelve-minute scena that features Piau’s singing at its most richly hued and dramatic.

 

Jérôme Correas leads Les Paladins with considerable flexibility, the ensemble turning on a dime to match Piau’s use of rubato. The instrumental pieces they present as interludes, excerpts from Concerto Grossos and the overture to Amadigi Di Gaulo, display Les Paladins to excellent advantage, playing nimble French overture rhythms in the overture and plangent dissonances in the G-minor concerto movement. They have a well balanced sound that is lustrous while being period-informed. 

 

Some aria collections are grab bags or greatest hits recordings. Thoughtful curation is a welcome alternative that, happily, seems to have become more frequent. Handel: Enchantresses is ideal in this regard, in that it explores a different facet of Piau’s artistry while presenting arias that are, in many cases, underserved treasures. Highly recommended. 

 

-Christian Carey



by Christian Carey
Best of, CD Review, Choral Music, early music, File Under?

Best of 2021: Holiday Music

Hodie Christus Natus Est

Boston Camerata, Anne Azéma

Harmonia Mundi CD

 

A trio of female singers accompanied by hurdy gurdy, harp, rebec, and bells present a diverse program of medieval Christmas music in English, Latin, Italian, Iberian, and French. Plainsong hymns, responses, carols, and dances, all by anonymous sources, are performed with impeccable sound, blend, and tuning and an impressive variety of approaches. Some of the music is intoned as chant while other pieces are metricized. This repertoire would not have appeared together in a single performance, especially given the blend of sacred and secular pieces, but Hodie Christus Natus Est is a rich program that displays historically informed performance at its very finest.

 

A Mexican Christmas

The Newberry Consort | Ellen Hargis, David Douglass directors

EnsAmble Ad-Hoc | Francy Acosta, José Luis Posada directors

Navona Records CD

 

Much like composers from Spain in the first half of the seventeenth century, Mexican composers during the same time period adhered to the “prima pratica” principles exemplified in sixteenth century Italy, most notably by Palestrina. They may have been latecomers to Baroque musical practices, but tarrying with earlier contrapuntal styles resulted in an extravagant coda to music of the Renaissance.

 

A Mexican Christmas is a live recording of Christmas music performed by the Newberry Consort and Ensemble Ad-Hoc. Rather than focusing on Mexican liturgical music, of which there is also a significant repertory, the main emphasis of the program is extra liturgical and secular music, including stirring instrumental selections by Santiago de Murcia. If one is unfamiliar with the composers Juan Guitierrez de Padilla, Gaspar Fernandes, and Juan Garcia Despedes, the selections here provide an excellent introduction to this underserved repertoire.

 

In the Bleak Midwinter: Christmas Carols from King’s

Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Daniel Hyde

King’s College, Cambridge CD

 

Every year, I think that the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge has arrived at the pinnacle of presenting Christmas carols. In 2021, they once again prove that they have even more room to climb. In the Bleak Midwinter features fresh approaches to arrangements and descants, talented soloists, memorable organ solos, and selections from corners of the repertoire, old and new, that merit more attention. Director Daniel Hyde does an admirable job musically and curatorially, favoring a lithe approach to phrasing and tempo that prevents the schmaltz that ruins so many recordings of carols. Organist Matthew Hyde supplies a colorful yet balanced array of textures when accompanying the choir. His performance of “Improvisation on Adeste Fideles,” by Francis Pott, supplies a memorable postlude to the proceedings. My favorite carol is Holst’s “In the Bleak Midwinter,” and the rendition here is practically peerless.

 

-Christian Carey

by Christian Carey
CD Review, Choral Music, early music, File Under?

Josquin 500 Part Two

Josquin 500 Part Two

The Josquin Legacy

Gesualdo Six

Harmonia Mundi CD

In Principio

De Labyrintho, Walter Tesolin

Baryton CD

Josquin Desprez

The Renaissance Master – Sacred Music and Chansons

Cappella Amsterdam, Daniel Reuss

Ensemble Clément Janequin, Ensemble Organum, Marcel Pérès

Ensemble Les Eléments, 

Ensemble Clément Janequin, Dominique Visse

Huelgas-Ensemble, Paul Van Nevel

La Chapelle Royale, Philippe Herreweghe

Theatre of Voices, Paul Hillier

Harmonia Mundi 3xCD

Josquin and the Franco-Flemish School

Ensemble Gille Binchois

Kings Singers

Early Music Consort of London

Hilliard Ensemble

Warner Classics 34XCD boxed set

Josquin – Baisiez Moy

thélème, Jean-Christophe Groffe 

Aparté CD

 

These releases commemorating the 500th anniversary of Josquin’s death take different, but equally diverting, approaches to assessing the composer’s legacy. They demonstrate the flexibility of approaches possible in interpreting the composer’s work. 

 

Carlo Gesualdo and Josquin Desprez are worlds apart, in terms of musical language, personality, and chronology, but they share a particular coincidence of geography: both of them had formative musical experiences in Ferrara. Thus, it seemed natural for the Gesualdo Six to center their program The Josquin Legacy around Josquin’s brief but fruitful tenure in the d’Este court in 1503-1504. Another linchpin of the recording is its programming of Josquin’s predecessor Johannes Ockeghem, rival Heinrich Isaac, contemporaries Pierre de la Rue, Antoine Brumel, Loyset Compere, and Antoine de Fevin, and successors Antoine Willaert and Jean Lhéritier, all of whom also had connections to the d’Este court and Ferrara. The curation is excellent, and the singing is most compelling; Gesualdo Six present a well blended, sonorous, and vibrant sound and deliver contrapuntal passages with utmost clarity. Their performance of Josquin’s Nymphe des bois, a memorial piece for Ockeghem, is one of the finest I can remember of this often-recorded masterwork. Equally compelling are their warmly hued rendition of Willaert’s Infelix Ego and plangent performance of Pierre de la Rue’s Absalom Fili Mi, a piece once attributed to Josquin that underscores the musical connections shared among composers of the Franco-Flemish School who found inspiration in their Italian sojourns. 

 

In Principio, a recording of De Labyrintho, has a warmer sound with a bit more of the room provided as ambience. The approach here is to present musical settings by Josquin of biblical and medieval texts that provide a chronology starting in Advent and ending with the infancy of Jesus, including motets about Mary, the Mother of Christ. They perform several longer pieces, including Liber generationis Jesu Christ, O Admirabile Commercium, and the album’s closer, the elegant Factum est Autem, and excel at shaping their large-scale architecture, suggesting that form coincided with local counterpoint in Josquin’s conception of motet composition. 

 

The Renaissance Master is a triple-disc set that includes several of the best early music vocal ensembles performing sacred music and chansons. The liner notes, written by Henri Vanhault, admit that in celebrating Josquin, likely misattribution of pieces to him means that a compendium like this is also celebrating like-minded contemporary composers. With the chance to compare thrilling performances by such estimable interpreters, one needn’t worry too much if all of Josquin’s catalog is sorted. With such bounty, it is difficult to pick favorites, but the Huelgas Ensemble’s performance of the 24-voice Qui Habitat is quite something, as is the Theatre of Voices’ performance of Missa Beata Virgine. La Chapelle Royale wins the prize for fastest performance on record of Ave Maria Virgo Serena. For those who want an even deeper dive and the context of a compendious collection of composers of the Franco-Flemish School of which Josquin is a part, Warner Classics has issued a 34 CD boxed set that will keep one busy visiting fifteenth and early sixteenth century music throughout the holidays and beyond. Excellent performances by estimable ensembles here too. 

 

Thélème takes a particularly novel approach to performing  Josquin’s works, including several that seldom appear on recordings,  incorporating modern instruments, such as Fender Rhodes electric piano and Buchla synthesizer, on their Aparté CD Baisiez Moy. The result is fascinating, reminding one that there were various heterogeneous ways in which these pieces were presented during the time period of their composition. Check out “Unisono 2” to hear the recording at its furthest out. Josquin’s work is durable enough to withstand and, on Baisiez Moy, flourish in imaginative renditions. 

 

-Christian Carey

 

by Christian Carey