OCKEGHEM
Masses L'Homme Armé; Sine nomine a3
The Clerks' Group/Edward
Wickham
ASV Gaudeamus GAU 204
57'37"
Crotchet
Amazon UK Amazon USA
In a very recent review of a Wigmore Hall appearance by The Clerks' Group
[S&H
May
31] I predicted that their recording of Ockeghem's
Missa L'homme armé, was likely to be with us soon. I have now
received it for review and discovered that it was recorded last February;
it would have sold like hot cakes if it had been on sale at the Wigmore Hall
that night! Hearing two movements in that mixed concert setting served to
reaffirm my conviction that he is really one of the greats - or is it just
that I have a penchant for the 15th above the later
16th Century, as I do too for the 17th over the
18th C? So much is dependent on personal preference.
Anyway, this is a great record and there is a very special reason to purchase
it. Many of the numerous Masses of the period have a basis in a tune, often
a popular song, which serves as a cantus firmus underpinning the
structure. Often these melodies are stretched out in augmentation and hard
to recognise without the scores or very expert ears. None of them is better
known than the catchy L'homme armé, a street cry which warned
against invasion. It turns up everywhere, and must be one of the best known
of all medieval melodies. This CD starts with a version by Robert Mouton,
combining it in a rondeau Il sera pour vous, one of its earliest
polyphonic settings.
It is so characterful and short a tune that in the four part Mass, which
follows immediately, 'it blazes a trail through Ockeghem's polyphony so that
we rarely lose sight of it'. This gives us a sure compass to steer by and
makes the whole work far more approachable than many another. If you start
out keeping it in mind, you will surely enjoy all the music which weaves
around it. At the end of the Agnus Dei it appears, slowly, in the
bass, taken down to low G to thrilling effect.
There is another delightful 3-part Mass, probably (but not so certainly)
by Ockeghem, the lightening of texture making for good contrast and equal
pleasure. This CD is sung and recorded up to the Clerks' Group's own
high standard and should bring new understanding and new friends for this
repertoire amongst non-specialist music lovers.
Reviewer
Peter Grahame Woolf
