If you wish us to send a CD to an address other than your own please e-mail us with the full address details of the recipient, stating the CD order reference.
PACO016:
Sacred Choral Music - Josquin, Arcadelt, Palestrina
Download
here:
download
price
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:
Order
CDs:
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.
Our MP3 files are encoded at at a constant rate of 320kbps for all issues since mid-August 2008, and using the LAME encoder at high variable bitrate settings for older issues.
Each recording is presented as a single, long MP3 which can be split using the CUE sheet at the bottom of the page, automatically adding track titles and other tag information.
Most modern CD writing programs such as Nero and Burrrn can write these files directly to CD with all track information added using MP3+CUE - see our tutorial
Alternatively a cue splitter program can automatically cut and name the MP3 into individual MP3 tracks
There are also media players which use the MP3+CUE system, allowing gapless playback of all long MP3 files - essential for opera and many other classical works
Save money when you buy several downloads together
Use the following discount codes in the shopping cart:
Buy 5 or more - save 10%: Code: 85187052
Buy 10 or more - save 20%: Code: 12W07104
How To Use: Once you've made your selections, copy the correct code into the space marked Discount or Coupon Code in your shopping cart, then click the Update Cart button to apply the discount before heading to the checkout.
N.B. These discounts apply to all our FLAC and MP3 downloads only. Discounts do not apply to CD purchases
Free postage worldwide on the highest quality discs available.
Our CDs are made to order on highest quality Taiyo Yuden Watershield CD-R discs, recorded directly from our master files
CDs are shipped worldwide by Air Mail from France.
All our CDs hold the same quality of audio - the Standard €10 CD comes in a slip case with no covers, the Premium and Ambient Stereo €14 CD comes in a jewel case with printed covers.
The prices shown include all packing and shipping costs anywhere in the world.
All payments are processed by PayPal, one of the world's biggest and most reliable global online payment services
You can pay by credit card directly with PayPal acting as a secure card payment processing facility. Your card details remain with PayPal and are not passed to us.
You can use a free PayPal account for quicker and easier secure payments: sign up.
We do not recommend using the e-check option for download purchases as there is always a delay of 3-4 working days between purchase and receipt of goods while the check clears
Payments are shown in Euros and will be converted to your local currency at the current exchange rate before payment is completed.
