Cristobal de MORALES Missa Si bona
suscepimus
Phillippe Verdelot Si bona suscepimus
Thomas Crequillon Andreas Christi
The Tallis Scholars/Peter
Phillips
Gimell CDGIM 033 [56
mins]
Crotchet
AmazonUK
AmazonUS
Cristobal de Morales (c.1500-1553) began and ended his career in Spain,
but worked in the Sistine Chapel Choir whilst Michelangelo was painting the
Last Judgment there, basing his Missa Si bona suscepimus composed
there upon the five-part motet by Phillippe Verdelot (fl.1520-50)
of the same name, adding one more more part and 'intensifying the imitation
and extending the polyphonic argument' (Peter Phillips) - - 'all the notes
of Verdelot there, but buried in a far richer and more complex texture'.
The CD is completed with a great eight-part motet of the Franco-Flemish
Thomas Crequillon (d.1557), its solidity contrasting with the more
fluid style of the Spaniard.
This is a satisfying sequence of early 16 C. choral music. The calm, euphonious
and perfectly tuned singing of The Tallis Scholars is expertly recorded
in the St Peter & Paul Church at Salle in Norfolk. The documentation
is thorough, as always with Gimell, the texts are given in big, bold print
and parallel translations into three languages.
Peter Grahame Woolf
