On 8th August
1503, Margaret Tudor (sister of Henry
VIII) married James IV of Scotland in
the Abbey church at Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh.
This occasioned the poem by William
Dunbar, ‘The Thrissil and the Rois’
which gives this disc its title. Issued
to commemorate the 500th
anniversary of the marriage, the disc
consists of three pieces from the most
important Scottish music manuscript
of the period – the Carver Choirbook.
Scholars associate
this manuscript with the expansion of
the Scottish Chapel Royal by James IV
in 1501. The three anonymous pieces
on this disc, come from a portion of
the manuscript, regarded as being the
oldest continuous layer in the surviving
manuscript, which also includes the
Mass Rex virginum and Dufay’s
Mass L’homme arme.
Missa Deus Creator
omniumis is a large scale 15th
century mass, unusual in that the setting
of the Kyrie is polyphonic and includes
extensive troped passages. Tropes, textual
additions to the Kyrie which varied
according to season, were removed from
the mass by the Council of Trent in
the 16th century. The mass
is cyclical, based on the same cantus
firmus. This cantus firmus is, as yet,
unidentified but the mass appears to
be constructed on a pre-existing part
from another mass. The construction
of the mass has many elements in common
with the works of Walter Frye - an English
composer whose works are known principally
through continental manuscripts.
The mass alternates
concerted polyphonic passages with long
sections of solos, mainly duos. The
result creates a rather attractive sense
of dialogue between soloists and ensemble.
The ensemble, Capella Nova, is a professional
a capella ensemble from Scotland. On
this disc they are twelve in number
(three per part for this mass and the
Magnificat) with a mixture of sexes
on the alto line (two men, one woman).
The solos are sung by a selection of
soloists taken from the choir. The resulting
ensemble sound is firm and vibrant,
though I did feel that they rather underplayed
their diction. The use of soloists from
the choir is admirable, and all have
a fine sense of style, though sometimes
I felt that the voices lacked a little
in focus. The recording itself, brings
the singers rather closer than I would
like and a greater sense of the church’s
acoustic would also have been preferable.
The anonymous Mass
for three voice occurs in the choirbook
sandwiched between two of Robert Carver’s
works (the Mass Fera pessima
and the great motet O bone Jesu).
Much of the vocal writing in the mass
adopts the florid style in the manner
of the later composers in the Eton Choirbook.
The mass sets a shortened text for the
Gloria and Credo, something common in
English masses for three voices from
the early 16th century. The
mass has some commonality with the three
voice sections in Carver’s works. Kenneth
Elliot, in his note in the CD booklet,
suggests that this mass might be by
Carver. Another remarkable feature is
the wide vocal range in the three parts
(an Octave and a fifth or an Octave
and a sixth). The mass is sung by Libby
Crabtree, Rebecca Tavener (sopranos)
and Anne Lewis (alto) and sounds ravishing.
Unlike the larger-scale mass, this does
not use contrasting sections varying
solo and ensemble. Instead we have a
sequence of continuous melodic polyphony,
at times quite florid.
The Carver Choirbook
contains a group of Magnificat settings
which are copies of settings in the
Eton Choirbook. The Magnificat recorded
here is in the same group, but does
not appear in the Eton Choirbook. Given
that the Eton manuscript has lost so
many of its Magnificat settings (only
four out of the original 24 survive),
there is good reason to think that this
one was also originally in the Eton
Choirbook. This Magnificat uses the
English technique of alternating plainchant
and polyphony; also full complement
episodes are alternated with solo sections
for two or three voices.
These works are fascinating
for the influence that they may have
had on Robert Carver. He copied out
many of the works himself, giving rise
to much speculation about influences
on his later works.
The performances by
Capella Nova might not reach the icy
perfection that some performers bring
to this repertoire, but they give us
a vivid performance full of character
and vigour with moments of great beauty.
Robert Hugill