Plainchant: Pange Lingua [3:36]
Missa Pange Lingua [29:25]
Missa La sol fa re mi [28:28]
The Tallis Scholars/Peter Phillips
rec. 1986, Chapel of Merton College, Oxford, UK. DDD
Latin texts and English, French, German, Italian translations included
GIMELL CDGIM009 [61:43]
Josquin DES PRÉS (c.1440-1521)
Missa Sine Nomine [27:39]
Missa Ad fugam [31:30]
Missa Ad fugam revisions attributed to Josquin
Sanctus, Benedictus [4:47]
Agnus Dei I, II, III [2:55]
The Tallis Scholars/Peter Phillips
rec. Church of St. Peter and St Paul, Salle, Norfolk. DDD
Latin texts and English, French, German translations included
GIMELL CDGIM039 [68:50]
Josquin DES PRÉS (c.1440-1521)
Missa Malheur me bat, [39:46] *
Missa Fortuna desperata [35:41] **
The Tallis Scholars/Peter Phillips
rec. 2008, Chapel of Merton College, Oxford, UK. DDD
Latin texts and English, French, German translations included
GIMELL CDGIM042 [75:27]
Peter Phillips founded The Tallis Scholars in 1973; they are celebrating
their fortieth anniversary this year. That seems to be a suitable cue
to bring up to date MusicWeb International’s coverage of the issues to
date in the ensemble’s series of recordings of Masses by the Flemish master,
Josquin Des Prés.
The three discs under consideration here include the disc that may be
said to be one of the most important that The Tallis Scholars have issued
to date. With CDGIM009 they won Gramophone magazine’s
Record of the Year award in 1987. This was the first time that an early
music disc had received that accolade and, amazingly, it remained the
only such winner of that award until 2010, I believe. In terms of recognition
for The Tallis Scholars this award was a quantum leap. As Peter Phillips
said when I interviewed
him and Steve Smith for Seen and Heard in 2010, “It turned us into a serious
proposition”. One key thing, as he explained, was that the Gramophone
award was not only from specialist critics but from a panel of critics
that included writers who specialised in a wide variety of music; in other
words, the quality of the music and the performances generated widespread,
as opposed to specialist, appeal.
Listening to the disc it’s not hard to see why it was singled out. I came
across a contemporary comment by John Steane, doyen of vocal music critics,
which was reprinted in his book. The Gramophone and the Voice
(1999). Steane wrote in 1987 that The Tallis Scholars “are a wonderfully
homogenous and disciplined group, yet sound like a choir of human beings.”
Of this particular disc Steane went on to say that “[they] bring such
a perceptive ear for the rhythms that they awaken a new appreciation of
the vitality and joy that exist in such things.” How true! The Missa
La sol fa re mi is the earlier of the two Masses; it was published
in 1502. Josquin based the entire Mass on the five notes A, G, F, D, E
and Peter Phillips reckons that this cantus firmus appears over 200 times
during the work. Yet, to my ears, while this is an amazing technical feat
the music never sounds constrained by this self-imposed framework, still
less dry or academic. The music doesn’t strike me as being as extrovert
as that in the companion Mass on this disc but that’s an observation,
not a criticism. In the Sanctus, Josquin almost goes up through the gears:
the ‘Sanctus’ itself is slow-moving and gently majestic; the ‘Pleni sunt
caeli’ music is lively but the ‘Hosanna’ is even livelier and exultant.
I was struck in Agnus Dei I by how many times Josquin repeats just the
one word ‘mundi’, as if emphasising again and again that Christ, the Lamb
of God, has taken away the sins of everyone. The same repetition
occurs in Agnus Dei III where the singing is exquisitely hushed and intense.
The compositional framework for Missa Pange Lingua is
a paraphrase of the plainchant hymn for Corpus Christi. Helpfully, the
complete hymn is sung first. Once again, I don’t feel that the framework
acts as any kind of constraint on Josquin; the music just flows with a
natural inevitability. This is held to be a much later Mass than its companion;
it wasn’t published until 1539, long after Josquin’s death. Peter Phillips
says in his notes that this Mass has been described by one scholar as
‘a fantasy on a plainsong’. What amazes me is the sheer variety, indeed
flamboyance, of Josquin’s writing for just four parts. In fact, his invention
is undiminished even when he reduces his options by writing in just two
parts, as at the start of the Credo where first the tenors and basses
are heard, followed by sopranos and altos. In the Credo the simple, reverent
homophony at ‘Et incarnatus est’ is a masterstroke after we’ve heard so
much polyphony. By “restricting” himself in this way Josquin focuses attention
on the mystery of the Incarnation. After this compositional self-denial
he compensates, as it were, with jubilant polyphony for ‘Et resurrexit’.
The performances of these two Masses are absolutely superb. The dedication,
discipline and skill required to produce such immaculate singing is quite
remarkable. Beautifully recorded by Mike Clements, it’s no surprise that
this disc was acclaimed so widely. Even now, more than 25 years later,
it still sounds fresh and new-minted.
CDGIM039 demonstrates a different side of Josquin’s compositional
genius. Both of the Masses are based entirely on canons. As Peter Phillips
points out, there are canonical movements elsewhere in Josquin’s output
but to construct all five movements of a Mass setting in this way is infinitely
more demanding. The comment I made above about the technical aspect not
fettering the music in any way applies to these compositions also. If
you listen very closely you’re always aware of the canonical device –
the clarity and precision of the singing, as well as Josquin’s writing,
sees to that – but it’s equally possible – and acceptable, I’d suggest
– simply to surrender to the wonderful music without necessarily being
aware that the musical scaffolding is invariably a canon.
Missa Ad fugam is probably the earlier of the two works;
for one thing, Phillips says, the canonical writing is more rigid. That
may be so but the music never sounds rigid, especially in the
ringing performance that The Tallis Scholars give of the Gloria. The Credo
is also very impressive. A manuscript source for the Mass in Jena University
contains some revisions to the Sanctus and Agnus Dei movements. These
revisions may even be by Josquin himself and they are included as an appendix
to this recording.
Missa Sine Nomine may be a homage to Ockeghem, Peter Phillips
suggests; he weaves into the ‘Et incarnatus’ a self-quotation from a lament
that he wrote on the death of the earlier Flemish master. In the opening
pages of the Credo the constantly overlapping parts are urgent and exciting
in this performance and the listener really needs the repose of the ‘Et
incarnatus’ section. However, once these moments of recollection are passed
Josquin really gets into his stride again and the closing moments of the
Credo are truly exhilarating; who says canons are dull? The Sanctus is
divided into the customary three sections – ‘Sanctus’, ‘Pleni’ and ‘Hosanna’
– which gives Josquin a further opportunity to display his technical skill
by composing three different types of canon in one movement.
CDGIM042 has been reviewed previously by Mark
Sealey and Brian
Wilson. Notwithstanding the excellence of the music - and performances
- on the other two discs this is the one on which the music most impressed
and excited me. Several of Josquin’s Masses, including Missa Pange
Lingua and both of his Masses based on L’homme armé (review),
are based on paraphrases of tunes found in liturgical or sacred music.
These two Masses are paraphrases of three-part chansons but, astonishingly,
Josquin used all three parts of the chansons as the basis for
his composition. That’s a remarkably ingenious thing to do and requires
hitherto unprecedented compositional skill. As Peter Phillips says, without
a score the listener is unlikely to be able to spot all the references
in the pieces and even with the score it’s hard to pick up some things.
Missa Fortuna desperata (‘Desperate Fate’) is based on
a chanson attributed to Antoine Busnoys (c. 1430-1492) and is probably
the earlier of these two Masses. Unlike all the other Masses considered
here it is scored not for SATB but for ATTB. That scoring gives the music
a richer, slightly darker hue as, for instance, in the ‘Qui tollis’ section
of the Gloria where the colours suggested are gold and russet. There’s
a seemingly endless flow of polyphony in the highly impressive Credo.
Part of the Agnus Dei may be missing: it’s not in the usual tripartite
form and perhaps a central section in two parts has been lost. The music
in the Agnus is underpinned by unusually sustained bass notes – Peter
Phillips adds a third bass singer to his ensemble for this movement –
and that gives this slow-moving music a stately feel. The second Agnus
Dei has a special solemnity to it, emphasised by the prominence of lower
voices in Josquin’s textures.
Missa Malheur me bat (‘Misfortune has struck me’) is based
on a chanson of that name which had been thought to be by Ockeghem but,
Peter Phillips says, may be by an obscure Flemish composer, Malcort. Josquin’s
Mass is on an impressive scale, lasting nearly 40 minutes in this performance
and, though it’s scored for SATB, in the Agnus the parts expand to SAATBB.
For this performance Peter Phillips augments the Superius line with an
additional female singer. The whole Mass is tremendously impressive but
I must single out the magnificent setting of the Credo as it made a particularly
strong impression on me. Here the music is exciting and expressive. The
thrilling, urgent performance by The Tallis Scholars really brings Josquin’s
music to life. The Sanctus begins as a slow-moving, elaborate musical
edifice but then there’s an outburst of sheer energy at ‘Hosanna’, although
the singing remains as controlled and disciplined as ever. The extra parts
bestow an additional richness of texture to the Agnus Dei. This is intense,
gravely beautiful music and Peter Phillips reveals its full stature in
directing an expansive, unhurried performance.
These three outstanding discs show us different examples of some of the
compositional techniques that Josquin had in his armoury. Thereby they
also demonstrate different facets of his genius. From start to finish
of each disc the performance standards are amazingly high. Furthermore,
though the performances are obviously grounded in scholarship that scholarship
is worn lightly: these performances are exciting, compelling and often
moving. It might be objected by some that the performances are too perfect.
If I may refer back to my interview
with Peter Phillips and Steve Smith, I recall that the subject of painstaking
perfection in Tallis Scholars recordings came up and they made no apology
for a constant search for perfection in recordings, which they regard,
rightly, I’m sure, as documents. Small errors can occur in concerts
but one doesn’t want them on a recording which a listener will replay
often and which may be the only recording that anyone will make of a particular
piece. Suffice to say that anyone buying these discs will find a realisation
of the music that is technically perfect. Let it not be thought that this
is sterile perfection. I return to John Steane: on these three discs you
will hear musical perfection attained by “a choir of human beings.”
It remains only to be said that all three discs are excellently and thoroughly
documented and that the standard of recorded sound is consistently splendid.
There are, I believe, sixteen Masses by Josquin of which The Tallis Scholars
have so far recorded ten. I do hope they will go on to record the remaining
settings by this remarkable Flemish composer.
John Quinn
Exciting, compelling and often moving performances of Josquin Masses
by The Tallis Scholars.
The Tallis Scholars Josquin Mass series on MusicWeb International
Missa Malheur me bat & Missa Fortuna desperata CD
review download
review
Missa De beata virgine & Missa Ave maris stella
review
review
Missa L’homme armé super voces musicales & Missa L’homme
armé sexti toni review
Support
us financially by purchasing this disc from |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
Support
us financially by purchasing this disc from |
|
|
|
|
|
Support
us financially by purchasing this disc from |
|
|
|
|
|