... their performance here is simply lovely.
30 May 2012
Early Music AmericaLance Hulme
I began listening to this CD with
Pavlovian anticipation, being familiar
with other recordings of Josquin
by the Tallis Scholars. Just as in their
recordings of Missa Pange Lingua,
Missa La Sol Fa Re Mi (both on
CDGIM 009), and the L'homme
arme masses (CDGIM 019), this
excellent ensemble brings a pristine
and expressive clarity to these
Marian canonic masses.
Missa De Beata Virgine was the
most widely printed work of Josquin
des Prez (c 1450/1455-1521), and
its prominence reflects its extraordinary
quality.
Like J.S.
Bach's Mass
in B Minor,
it seems to
have been
cobbled
together
out of an earlier four-voice Kyrie and
Gloria and later five-voice movements.
Also like Bach's masterpiece,
this work represents a panoply of
compositional approaches.
Josquin's ability to tease out expressive
qestures from a plainchant is
evident through his use of paraphrase
(or embellishment), and he
contrasts the obsessive motivic play
of the Kyrie with the vigorous,
tonally confident "Hosanna" in the
sanctus. What in manuscript
appears disjointed becomes, by the
craft of a master, a unified musical
experience. The earlier Ave Maris
Stella holds up exceedingly well
against the later mass, proving
Josquin to be one of the precious
few creators whose output never
falls short of the extraordinary.
The Tallis Scholars have yet to
disappoint, and their performance
here is simply lovely. Peter Phillips's
direction demonstrates his ability to
bring out Josquin's intricacies without
sacrificing the greater musical
arc.
My attention was also caught by
the additional Credo Quarti Toni,
whose attribution is questioned. For
me, the question of its authenticity
is put to rest by its astonishing
rhythmic flexibility and sinuous
continuity, which evokes, of all
composers, Schoenberg.
Reproduced from the Early Music America magazine.