PACO016:
Sacred Choral Music - Josquin, Arcadelt, Palestrina
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Sistine Chapel Choir (r.1931)
under the direction of Monsignor Lorenzo Preobi
conducted by Monsignor Antonio Rella
La Maitrise de la Cathedrale de Dijon (r.1933)
sous la Direction de M. J. Samson
Choir of the Strasbourg Cathedral (r.1933)
under the direction of Abbé Alphonse Hoch
Amsterdamsch A Capella Koor Bel Canto (r.1929)
onder leiding van Alphons Vranken Recorded 1929-1933
Released in the UK by HMV and Columbia (Trk 3) (see below)
Download ID: 256974, 435367
(Duration
44'26")
Play
sample movement:
This quite remarkable collection arrived at Pristine Audio ready-assembled, albeit on the original 78s and needing transfer and remastering. It brings together four excellent choirs and a collection of superb early polyphonic sacred music to produce a whole that is entirely satisfying.
All of these recordings were made around the same time; the earliest, from 1929, perhaps shows its age the most. Elsewhere the Sistine Chapel Choir, which almost five hundred of year previously had featured Josquin de Prés among their number, are in good voice. However it is the Dijon Cathedral Choir which shines brightest in this collection, both in terms of performance and recording quality, and it is they who provide the only long-form recording here with the 13'17" Missa Assumpta Est Maria by Palestrina - surely a highlight.
Elsewhere it's fascinating to hear Josquin effectively recycling his melodic material - tracks two and three are both based on the same tune - Ave Coelorum Domina is meditative and slow, whereas Ave Vera Virginitas presents a far more lively interpretation.
The third composer here, Arcadelt, has the Ave Maria assigned to his authorship, though this is now thought doubtful; we have listed him here as the composer as shown on the original 78. It is also now considered unlikely that Josquin was the original author of the Ave Verum Corpus. But quibbling over authorship is academic - what we have here is a superb collection of choral music from the 15th and 16th centuries, some of it otherwise unavailable in recorded form in the current catalogue.
Track Listing:
Ave Verum Corpus (Josquin de Prés) Dijon Cathedral Choir (DB 4893)
Offertorium - Super Flumina (Palestrina) Sistine Chapel Choir (DB 1571)
Missa Assumpta Est Maria (Palestrina) Dijon Cathedral Choir (DB 4896-7)
Benedictus (Uit Missa) (Palestrina) Amsterdamsch A Capella Koor Bel Canto (DB 17195)
Hodie Christus Natus Est (Palestrina) Amsterdamsch A Capella Koor Bel Canto (DB 17195)
REVIEW OF Renaissance Choral Music
(Josquin des Pres, Arcadelt, Palestrina) (Various European Church Choirs)
I always assumed that with few exceprions (Nadia Boulanger, the Monks of Solesmes), no one knew how to sing Rennaissance choral music until well after the 2nd World War. This disk proves me wrong by a country mile. The singing on this disk is magnificent, natural, perfectly intuitive and shows long acquaintance with the music. There is a work-a-day of the dimension of the choir's "doing it's job" that goes well with the composer's sense of "doing his job" in composing for the church.
First we have three motets by Josquin des Pres. Josquin was not just a great composer or "the Prince of composers" as he was called in his lifetime. He was the true bridge between the Medieval composers on the left (Machault, Dufay, Ockenghem) and the Renaissance composers on the right (Palestrina, Di Lasso, Monteverdi). His motets are other-worldly and very beautiful.
The Arcadelt motet is simple and strong and comparatively homophonic.
The rest of the program is given up to Palestrina. I have found most modern recordings of Palestrina to be a bit too smooth and euphonious as if the performers were still afraid that the Council of Trent were going to ban all music from church services unless it was unobtrusive. But the Palestrina of the Sistine Chapel Choir and the Dijon Cathedral Choir is very flesh and blood. In the Sicunt Geres, there is great urgency; in the Improperia, there are strong contrasts between the soli and the whole choir. In the Offeratorium, the sopranos and tenors dominate the texture and drive the work. In the Missa Assumpta Est Maria, I'm not sure the entire mass is given; my Latin is not up to it. The Dijon Cathedral Choir is not ethereal, but very precise and beautiful.
The Benedictus features a gentle opening followed by a vigorous section. The Hodie (This Day) is a Christmas motet in which the word "Noe" is constantly repeated. I'm assuming Noe is Noel.
This is a remarkably fullfilling disk, regardless of its provenance. But to realize that it is reprocessed from 78's made 75 or so years ago! Of course there is some surface noise, but it soon fades by the 3rd or 4th track. There is something magical here--the past giving up its secrets.
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