RECORDING OF THE MONTH
Cipriano de RORE ( c.1515/1516-1565)
Illuxit nunc sacra dies, motet [27:45]
Missa Doulce mémoire [7:09]
O altitudo divitiarum [5:58]
Fratres 'Scitote' [2:25]
Missa 'a note negre' [31:17]
Brabant Ensemble/Stephen Rice
rec. 7-9 August, 2012, The Church of St Michael and All Angels, Summertown,
Oxford, UK. DDD
HYPERION CDA67913 [72:34]
Cipriano de Rore is one of three major figures from the Low Countries who
made significant advances in musical form and expression in the later sixteenth
century. The others were Adrian Willaert (c.1490 - 1562) and Philippe Verdelot
(c.1480/85 - ?1530/32). Their music is not as well known as that by composers
like Josquin and Palestrina who came - roughly - before and after them although
it certainly deserves to be.
Although not immodest, de Rore's is music of great self-confidence, conviction
and beauty. The lines are varied yet express a concentration that makes for
compelling listening. The harmonies are clear but at the same time embellish
the composer's highly original ideas. The adherence of the melodies to the
spirit of the texts is remarkable. It informs our listening with a fresh and
binding integrity.
Stephen Rice was awarded his Doctorate on Gombert as recently as 2004 - from
Oxford. Yet he has established a fine momentum in bringing these composers
to our attention with the aptly-named Brabant Ensemble. Their singing is remarkably
sensitive to the crystalline substance of the music of this era. Yet it is
the substance, and not the veneer, that they address with every new release.
There have been almost a dozen so far.
The singers' tempi are gentle and finely-tuned though never sluggish.
There is also a real sense that the dozen or so singers of the Ensemble, which
was founded in 1998 and has recorded for Hyperion since 2006, are not recreating
the music; still less reluctantly infusing it with new life. They are inhabiting
it and performing something vibrant and robust. The Brabant Ensemble is also
a true ensemble: the singers blend very well in all ways.
At the same time they respect the delicacy and focus of de Rore's textures.
Listen to the individually-articulated syllables of the O altitudo divitiarum
(tr.6), for instance. Rice elicits as much warmth as he does precision from
his singers and that's a gift. He also focuses attention on de Rore's beautiful
long lines, where freshness and evident, almost deconstructed, grace are as
important as impression and agility. Both of the mass settings here are based
on French chansons. That too tethers them to a vernacular in which
de Rore was decidedly at home. This aspect is coupled to an appeal to the
divine that almost belies the readiness of the secular madrigal, for which
de Rore is best known. That's most evident in the Kyrie, say, of the
longest work on the CD, the Missa 'a note negre' (tr.9). Indeed, the
composer made his most lasting contribution in madrigal writing. It's necessary
to appreciate this in order to understand his at times (almost) homophonic
techniques in sacred music where polyphony otherwise prevailed.
Like the other composers from the North mentioned, de Rore worked chiefly
in Italy. In fact the music we hear on this superb CD is full of the sun and
the colour of that culture. It's not explosive or over-demonstrative: the
short Fratres 'Scitote' (tr.7), for example, could also have been composed
by a Taverner or a Tallis. Like most of the other pieces here, it's contained
and clean without ever being severe - or sung brusquely by the Brabant Ensemble.
The Brabant’s accounts have enthusiasm and dedication as much as they
unobtrusively exhibit high technical competence. It's clear in the way they
attack Illuxit nunc sacra dies, motet (tr.8), for instance, just how
much they are enjoying this lovely music - but not merely for its sound. Rather,
for the purpose and confessional import which has survived so perceptibly
in de Rore's phrasing and repetition over half a millennium.
The acoustic is as responsive as it is appropriately unspectacular. The words
can all be heard. Yet there is more than a dash of welcome 'occasion', but
never spurious atmosphere. The result is performances of sober devotion, which
is surely entirely in keeping with the composer's intent.
The booklet is to Hyperion's usual standards: some thumbnail photographs of
the performers as well as brief essays (by Rice) on de Rore and his music
and the complete texts in Latin and English.
Mark Sealey
Beautiful Renaissance choral music performed with warmth and polish by experts.
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