In terms of playing time the most significant composer represented here is
Cristóbal de Morales but in fact the dominant influence is that of the
Frenchman, Jean Mouton. It was Mouton’s motet
Quaeramus cum
pastoribus (‘Let us search with the shepherds’) that Morales used as
the model for his parody Mass which the Marian Consort has recorded
here.
Mouton spent almost all his life in his native France but copies of his
compositions were disseminated widely outside France and a copy of the motet
in question found its way to the Sistine Chapel where it remained in the
repertoire of the choir for over a century. Hearing it in this fine
performance by Rory McCleery and his colleagues its durability is
unsurprising for it’s a lovely, intimate and seemingly effortless
composition.
Puer natus est nobis is another four-part piece but
here the music often proceeds with two pairs of voices singing antiphonally,
the four parts coming together for periodic cadences. This is a very fine
piece. The third Mouton offering,
Noe, noe, noe, psallite noe, is,
like its companions, written in four parts. This piece is joyful and
exuberant but while the singers never rein in the joy the singing is
scrupulously controlled.
In his Mass based on Mouton’s
Quaeramus cum pastoribus Morales
adds a fifth voice – an extra bass part – to Mouton’s four-part scheme; this
enables him to enrich the textures. Morales clearly thought highly of Mouton
for we read in the notes that he used pieces by the Frenchman as models in
no fewer than three of his seven surviving parody Masses. Nor was Morales
alone in taking Mouton as an inspiration; the notes detail several other
composers who, like Morales, used the motet
Quaeramus cum
pastoribus as the basis for either Masses or motets.
This Morales Mass is impressive. The Kyrie is serene and smoothly
contoured while the Gloria often shows great subtlety in the writing. Here
the members of the Marian Consort achieve fine clarity in the polyphony,
singing flawlessly and phrasing in an exemplary fashion. The Sanctus is
solemn and dignified while the triple-metre Hosannas are joyful. In the
Benedictus Morales employs only the top three voices. Extra voices are added
for the Agnus, the forces expanding from SATBB to SSATTBB; the extra
sonority is most effective.
Even larger vocal forces are deployed for the concluding piece on the
programme. This is another setting of the text
Quaeramus cum
pastoribus, this time by the Italian, Annibale Stabile. Here the
writing is for two SATB choirs and Rory McCleery conducts this piece rather
than directing it as a member of the consort. It’s a good piece, full of
polyphonic Christmas joy; here it’s receiving its first recording.
This is a lovely disc. The music has been discerningly chosen and the
performances are expertly delivered. The
Chapel of Merton College, Oxford is becoming something of a regular haunt
for Delphian, thanks to their connection with the college’s choir, I
presume. Engineer Paul Baxter certainly seems to have the measure of the
building’s warm and pleasing acoustic and he’s produced another excellent
recording here. The presentation is up to the label’s usual high standards:
the notes by Rory McCleery are interesting and as authoritative as we might
expect given that he is currently researching an Oxford doctoral thesis on
Jean Mouton.
This is a disc that can only enhance further the reputation of the Marian
Consort. If you want a gentle, reflective and very satisfying musical
celebration of Christmas then
Christmas with the Shepherds is for
you.
John Quinn
