ANONYMOUS (15th-16th centuries)
Missa Transfigurationis
In Vigiliam [19:00]
Suffragia [4:16]
Missa Sancta Trinitas [37:04]
Antoine DE FÉVIN (c.1470 - 1511/1512)
Motet, Sancta Trinitas [2:42]
Psallentes/Hendrik Vanden Abeele (baritone/director)
rec. 2014, Abbaye de Beaufays, Belgium. DDD
MUSIQUE EN WALLONIE MEW1576 [65:62]
This CD from the ever-enterprising Belgian label,
Musique en Wallonie, presents clean, clear, penetrating, yet appropriately
emotionally-charged singing from Psallentes, the nine-person group from
that country. They have captured the calm and the conviction of anonymous
vocal works - including the beautiful Mass, Sancta Trinitas
- from fifteenth and sixteenth century religious music of the region.
The manuscripts (shelf-marked ‘BCT A 58’) are located in
the cathedral of Tournai (also in Walloon) and were rediscovered in
2006 after having disappeared (and thought lost) at the end of the Second
World War.
The Brotherhood of the Transfiguration was a small group of priests
and clerics formed in the first half of the fifteenth century specifically
to meet first twice, then eventually only once, a year to celebrate
that Biblical event. Associated with both Tournai and Cambrai, the Brotherhood
lasted for over 300 years.
Psallentes’ singing on this CD is unfussy, purposeful, directed,
technically unostentatious and polished. Yet, the beautiful singing
which they present never relies on an attempt to work up an atmosphere
or a spurious ‘occasion’; it’s singing full of dedication,
sincerity and colour. That Psallentes contains a similar number of singers
to the Brotherhood helps: the balance between the declamatory (at times
almost ecstatic) style of the texts and the all the more contrasting
restraint suits such a number. Intimacy takes second place to certainty
and to gentle force in delivery. At the same time the sense of unison
and collaboration in worship is patent; it comes to seem necessary and
natural.
Another aspect to the singers’ thrust and purpose may lie in the
fact that they’re performing music which openly deviates from
the established ecclesiastical hierarchy of the time. The Brotherhood
may have been supporters of Jan Hus or specifically Hussite movements
in the fifteenth century … hence, perhaps, the almost rhetorical
certainty of the ‘outsider’. There are links between Mount
Thabor, site of the Transfiguration and Tábor in Huss’ Bohemia.
The former is mentioned with joy throughout these texts.
Manuscript BCT A 58 contains the Libellus of the Brotherhood
- a composite collection on parchment. It contains four distinct sections:
a vigil; a processional, mass and prayers for the dead from the Brotherhood;
an anonymous Mass; and Févin’s motet, Sancta Trinitas.
These are each performed and grouped to correspond to the sequence of
a service in the way that contemporaries would expect - within the Mass.
There are thus plainchant, polyphony, simple expositional monody and
ensemble passages.
The performers have aimed to strike a balance between authenticity and
expression: particularly in matters of rhythm and phrasing, Psallentes
have decided to opt for what truly seems to be the most natural and
obvious approach, although it may not always adhere to the intricacies
of mensural notation. What’s more, although this music could be
taken to illustrate some musical trends of the time, these performances
emphasise its ‘local’ nature (that is, as being rooted in
a specific time and place) and treat it as music for its own sake; not
to try and make any more general points.
The acoustic of the Abbaye de Beaufays in Belgium has just the right
amount of resonance for the blend between passion and precision alluded
to. It might be a little on the dry side if you want to ‘lose
yourself’ in shadows and echoes but the clarity and acknowledgement
of space are really what is needed. The bound hardback in which the
CD comes contains background (actually the essence of an article about
BCT A 58 by Anne-Emmanuelle Ceulemans, previously published elsewhere)
in French, German and Dutch as well as English with the works’
texts in those languages, as well as the original Latin. This is glorious
music of interesting provenance sung with just the right balance of
attack and sensitivity. It will appeal to lovers of late Mediaeval and
Renaissance choral music and appears to be otherwise unavailable on
CD. Technically well-produced and presented, it makes an important addition
to the current catalogue.
Mark Sealey
Members of Psallentes
Rob Cuppens (counter-tenor)
Jonathan de Ceuster (counter-tenor)
Gunther Vandeven (counter-tenor)
Niek Van den Dool (tenor)
Gregory Skidmore (baritone)
Philippe Favette (bass)
Arnout Malfliet (bass)
Paul Mertens (bass))
