Jean MOUTON (c.1458-1522)
Nesciens mater [5:37]
Ave Maria, gemma virginum [2:26]
Exsultet coniubilando [4:13]
Verbum bonum et suave [11:08]
Missa Tu es Petrus [31:02]
Bona vita, bona refectio [6:11]
Factum est silentium [5:30]
The Brabant Ensemble/Stephen Rice
rec. 16-18 August 2011, Church of St. Michael and All Angels, Summertown,
Oxford.
HYPERION CDA 67933 [66.07]
I’ve waxed lyrical before about the Brabant Ensemble. There was a wholly
admirable a disc of motets by Morales (Hyperion
CDA67694). Last year their performance of the Requiem by Clemens non Papa
(Hyperion
CDA67848) was outstanding. Stephen Rice extracts from his singers a pure
sound but one that is full of expression. Vibrato is used by each singer but
discreetly and the sense of ensemble is second to none.
With both of those earlier discs I had no queries about the music itself.
However some reviewers felt in relation to Phinot’s Missa Si bona
suscepimus (Hyperion CDA 67696) that this composer was not consistent
in inspiration or in production of arresting ideas. To a certain extent I
felt the same about Jean Mouton. That said, as a result of this disc, I have
now altered my views and am pleased that such fine singers are tackling his
music.
The standard textbooks seem to ignore Mouton’s existence. Even Gustav
Reese’s famous tome Music in the Middle Ages turns a blind eye.
If you’ve heard of him at all it may because of his oft-recorded motet
Nesciens Mater that opens the bowling on this disc. On the other hand
it may be, as Stephen Rice’s excellent booklet notes admit, because
we have come across the joyous Noe, Noe psallite or the evocative Queramus
cum pastoribus. All three are Christmas motets. The latter two are not
recorded here. Rice takes the opportunity to make and offer some discoveries
instead. Nesciens Mater is one of the most serenely striking motets
of the renaissance. One might simply sit back and wallow in its eight-part
sound but that sound is the result of an extraordinary canon 8-á-4;
only the best will do to honour the birth of our Saviour.
As a good example of Stephen Rice’s approach listen to the motet Factum
est Silentium written in honour of St. Michael. It is a dramatic piece
deservedly revived and rippling with excitement. Here is a choir which imposes
appropriate dynamic shadings where the text demands and these consistently
add interest. For example, after the initial salvo is over everything pauses
for breath in the shape of the more thoughtful Salut, honor et virtus
before it takes off again at a commanding forte. At the words Ignosce
Domino, Deus noster we have a hushed series of chords sung piano.
So many choirs think that dynamics in Renaissance music work via osmosis:
that is that the composer will have thinned the texture or lowered the tessitura
to obtain volume contrast. That may be true to an extent but often dynamics
need to be imposed. That is what happens here and with real success.
The main work on the disc is the Missa: Tu Es Petrus. This is the composer’s
only five-part mass - he left us fifteen - in which unusually the plainchant
melody is placed in one of the soprano parts. This gives the texture a light,
airy feel suitable for the feast day for which it may have been intended:
29 June. In the Agnus even the tenors are asked to sing their line
up a fourth. There are passages, such as in the Christe, when a part
or two is omitted, again lifting the texture. There are a number of moments
when the music just treads water. Not surprisingly this tends to occur in
the longer movements and the attention wanes due to a great deal of close
imitation. Even so, it’s good to hear this sunny mass. Without a doubt
it’s a piece that I will return to quite often.
The major mode is also used for the motet Bona Vita, bona refectio
(Good feast, good drink). The text is also used as a motet and a parody mass
by Lassus. The Mouton work is an excitable piece. It appears to confirm what
most of us have always thought: that clergy dinners are decidedly convivial
and rowdy affairs.
Each of the above motets is in four parts but, like Nesciens Mater
there are three others, also in eight parts. Verbum bonum et suave
is a motet for the Annunciation (25 March). It’s a compositional tour
de force lasting over eleven minutes. Intonation, as you might expect,
is perfect. There are some tricky false relations to negotiate and other awkward
corners. However, the somewhat relentless closely moving polyphony does induce
tiredness. Even so, one of Mouton’s fingerprints is that he rarely repeats
text so it flows and carries you along in its flood. Also the best is saved
until last with a glorious A-men.
The gem of this entire collection is the plangent Ave Maria, gemma virginum
- another canon, this time 8-á-4. It’s in D minor according
to Rice’s notes which may account for its quite gripping sound-world.
Equally impressive is Exsultet coniubilando which, with its double
cantus firmi and its gloriously fluent polyphony. It was written as
a ‘state motet’, as Rice describes it, for Pope Leo X for whom
Mouton worked following a career mainly in France - specifically in Grenoble.
His promotion to papal composer was clearly well deserved. It is to be hoped
that Leo X appreciated the genius of this work which I won’t spoil now.
Stephen Rice spills a great deal of enthusiastic ink in its description.
I see no reason why anyone with an interest in Renaissance choral music shouldn’t
get this straightaway but can I suggest you order it from your local record
shop: one I used to love visiting has of late sold up. A great pity.
Gary Higginson
I see no reason why anyone with an interest in Renaissance choral music shouldn’t
get this straightaway.