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vital performances that bring Josquin’s music vividly to life

05 December 2011
Musicweb
John Quinn

This latest release in The Tallis Scholars’ evolving series of the complete Mass settings of Josquin brings us what Peter Phillips calls “two of Josquin’s most intense canonic Masses”.

The more expansive Missa De beata virgine is one of his later works and, as Peter Phillips says in his excellent note, it may be that it was not conceived as a unified setting for while the Kyrie and Gloria are in four parts the texture expands to five parts for the remaining movements. Whether the Mass is a unity or not it contains some very fine music.

Much though I enjoyed the music of Missa De beata virgine I found the earlier Missa Ave maris stella even more attractive. The Mass is prefaced by a verse of the plainchant on which it is based. This is sung by a solo tenor, the excellent Christopher Watson, and I found it really helpful to hear the chant in immediate proximity to the Mass.

The performance standards are as exemplary as ever. The singing of The Tallis Scholars is flawless. Yet that description should not for one second imply anything cold or academic. These are vital performances that bring Josquin's music vividly to life. The listener is engaged right from the start and consistently drawn onwards and into the music. As I've indicated, the clarity of the singing is a strong and consistent feature of these performances. No doubt it helps that the singers have been recorded beautifully by engineer Philip Hobbs in the lovely resonance of Merton Chapel. Documentation is, as ever, excellent from this source. This disc is an essential purchase for anyone with an interest in Josquin's music. Further volumes are eagerly awaited.

Read the full review on Musicweb.

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vital performances that bring Josquin’s music vividly to life