Cantica Salomonis
Cantica Salomonis - Song of Songs with Gregorian Antiphons (1584) [113:38]
plainchant
Adducentur Regi virgines post eam, tract [3:18]
Giovanni Pierluigi da PALESTRINA
Afferentur Regi virgines post eam [2:35]
plainchant
Audi filia et vide, gradual [3:26]
Giovanni Pierluigi da PALESTRINA
Quam pulchri sunt gressus tui [4:29]
Palestrina Ensemble Munich/Venanz Schubert
rec. 29-30 May 2005, 8-10 June 2012, church of the University Women's Hospital, Munich, Germany. DDD
Texts and translations to be downloaded from Naxos site
NAXOS 8.573096-97 [71:47 + 55:39]
In the course of history the texts from the Song of Songs - one
of the books from the Old Testament - exerted a great attraction
on composers. One reason for this is the expressive language with
which the love of a young man and a young woman is described.
Another - and probably more important - is the allegorical interpretation
of the texts. The young man represented Christ, the young woman
the Church, or - especially in mystic circles - the soul of the
believer. When the veneration of the Virgin Mary developed she
took the role of the young woman. The fact that a number of texts
entered the liturgy in the form of antiphons indicates that the
Church embraced the allegorical interpretation and considered
the texts useful to strengthen the faith of the people. However,
one cannot overlook a kind of dichotomy in the Church's
attitude: various people who translated these texts into the vernacular
came into conflict with the ecclesiastical authorities.
Palestrina was one of the composers to set parts of the Song of
Songs. His settings were published in 1584 as his fourth book
of motets. The first edition's title doesn't refer
in any way to the origin of the texts. The popularity of such
compositions is reflected by the fact that this book was reprinted
several times; later editions are more explicit about their character.
In the present recording every motet is preceded by an antiphon,
sometimes on the same text, in other cases on a text which is
close to the motet in content. This could give the impression
that the motets are considered to be written for liturgical use.
That is not the case, and the liner-notes mention this fact, although
that could have been made more explicit. The antiphons are probably
included as a kind of 'liturgical counterpart' to
the motets, just to show that texts from the Song of Songs were
not banned by the Church.
Unfortunately the performers seem not to have realized the consequences
of the fact that these motets were written for domestic use or
for performance during gatherings of confraternities, closely
associated to the Oratorian movement of St Philip Neri. The choir
comprises 15 singers. This is not only questionable from a historical
point of view; it also results in a largely unsatisfactory interpretation.
A vocal ensemble of this size is at odds with the intimate character
of the texts and Palestrina's music. These settings are
certainly not the most sensitive; some of Palestrina's
colleagues probably had more feeling for the specific character
of these texts. Other recordings - for instance that by Pro Cantione
Antiqua (Hyperion, 1984) - show that more can be made of these
pieces. The Palestrina Ensemble Munich is here rather uniform
and has too little in the way of differentiation. The transparency
of the choir leaves something to be desired as well, and the texts
are not always easy to understand.
There is more: intonation is often suspect, and the singing sometimes
sounds awkward, lacking the fluency required by the stile
antico. The balance between the various voice groups is not
always satisfying. The German pronunciation of Latin is very odd;
I can't see any reason for it, and I suspect that this
issue has been given little thought.
The ensemble was founded in 1994 and comprises music students
from the south of Germany. Without a doubt this makes for a wonderful
opportunity for them to sing together and to perform music from
especially the 16th and 17th centuries. It is easy to understand
that the participants would like to have some memories in sound
of their performances. However, the quality of these performances
falls short of justifying commercial release. In its early years
Naxos released various discs with early music which were of rather
suspect quality. In recent years I have heard many which I greatly
enjoyed and rated highly, also in my reviews on this site. Recordings
like this damage the label's improved reputation as a serious
contender in the realm of early music.
Johan van Veen
http://www.musica-dei-donum.org
https://twitter.com/johanvanveen
Previous review: Jake
Barlow
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