This recording was originally issued by Hyperion in 1999, the
year of Guerrero’s 400th anniversary and now,
a decade later, they have re-issued it on their mid-price Helios
label. For this recording the choir of Westminster Cathedral
and conductor James O’Donnell were joined by Her Majestys
Sagbutts and Cornetts. The intention was to reproduce the sound-world
of Seville Cathedral when Guerrero worked there. Guerrero spent
most of his working career at Seville Cathedral. We are lucky
enough to have surviving documentation from the period. This
details exactly how the authorities expected the instrumentalists
to participate in the liturgical music. From this it seems that
the instrumentalists took quite an active part in the polyphonic
music, both supporting and replacing voices in the choirs. At
times the music was played completely instrumentally. This is
reflected on this disc where the sackbuts and cornets not only
accompany the singers but in some cases replace them entirely.
The centrepiece of the disc is Guerrero’s Missa De
La Batalla escoutez. This is a parody mass based
on Janequin’s popular chanson La guerre -also known
as La bataille de Marignan. The strange title of the
mass combines the Spanish phrase for the battle with the first
French word (escoutez) in Janequin’s chanson.
Anyone expecting a dramatic battle mass, full of fanfares and
such-like will be disappointed. This is a traditional, rather
sober, polyphonic mass in Guerrero’s finest style. During
the mass, the instruments are used to accompany the singers,
adding colour and support. The bass line receives a lot of colour
from the bajon (dulcian), an instrument frequently used in Spanish
music of this period to strengthen low bass lines. Paul McCreesh
uses one in his recording of the Victoria Requiem, thus enabling
his choir to sing the piece at low pitch suitable for having
counter-tenors on the top line. Inevitably any instrumental
additions must be editorial and whilst in 1999 this account
probably seemed quite novel, to my ears the instrumental support
in the mass is rather conservative and now you could imagine
doing it in a far more dramatic fashion. That said, the instrumentalists
support the fine polyphony of the Westminster Cathedral Choir
and this is as fine an account of the mass as you could wish
for. The Westminster boys still have a wonderful earthy tone
which suits this music down to the ground.
The disc opens with the Corpus Christi hymn, Pange Lingua
gloriosi where Guerrero alternates polyphony with plainchant.
This seems to be performed with little or no instrumental accompaniment.
Rather more instrumental effects are heard in Guerrero’s
large motet In exitu Israel. Here again Guerrero alternates
plainchant with polyphony, providing fifteen brief contrapuntal
verses. And here, much variety is added by the varying use of
instruments and voices. The result achieves a richness and variety
which seem almost Venetian and makes you wonder how many other
rather sober unaccompanied polyphonic pieces were intended by
their composers to have these glorious trappings. In the Trinity
motet, Duo Seraphim clamabant, Guerrero rather
aptly uses three choirs. Here the instruments seem to have been
used to supplement the Westminster forces to provide a wonderfully
dramatic account of the piece which by far exceeds anything
that the choir of 14 men and 24 boys could achieve alone.
The instrumentalists play Guerrero’s Regina caeli laetare
alone giving us a glimpse of the sort of instrumental-only
repertoire which must have been commonplace. The disc then finishes
with Guerrero’s Magnificat on the 8th
tone. What is recorded here is the composer’s 1584
revision of a piece published in 1563. The composer alternates
chant and polyphony but at the end rather lets himself go with
a final pair of polyphonic movements, with the last movement
of all expanded to a rich six voices. Sung by a mixture of voices
and instruments, the results are lavish indeed and easily transport
you to Seville cathedral.
The disc concludes with the hymn Conditor alme siderum,
a companion to the hymns recorded on Westminster’s first
Guerrero CD.
The Mass has also been recorded more recently by The Sixteen,
whose fine account is done a cappella rather than with
the Sagbutts and Cornetts used by Westminster Cathedral. Both
versions are well performed and which you choose will probably
depend on your view of the instrumental accompaniment. For myself,
I’d go for this colourful version from Westminster every
time.
The excellent CD booklet includes extensive background notes
by Bruno Turner along with texts in Latin and English.
This is a disc which wears its learning lightly. All the performances
are of a very high calibre and extremely seductive. They are
underpinned by Turner’s historical digging. This extends
to using the correct Iberian forms of the plainchant.
Robert Hugill
Westminster
Cathedral Choir 
