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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Double choir masses and motets can be something of a bore. Cori spezzati in lesser compositions has homophonic passages hot on the heels of each other, the text treated concisely. Lassus's Missa Osculetur me, a parody mass of his own motet (also on this recording) is something quite special in that the polyphony is maintained at a fever pitch throughout. There are a few movements with reduced forces down to a single choir (Christe & Crucifixus notably), and there is no change in the rolling, tumbling, exciting and utter sumptiousness of the polyphony. No wonder the Agnus is performed twice - it's so beautiful. I've listened to this CD many times without ever losing interest. This mass is really magical.
The Tallis Scholars sing the mass with the jollity that it deserves, and there are some really wonderful voices in the line-up - 1989 was the hey-day of the Scholars. I would have preferred the music untransposed, but then you can't have everything, especially if, like Peter Phillips, you want high-soaring sopranos: a very English sound.
Double choir Marian antiphons are also on this disc, and they sometimes fall into the dull category of cori spezzati (hence only 4 stars not 5), but Hodie completi sunt and Timor et tremor are both fine pieces, the former performed at original pitch.
Apart from pitch, performance practice afficionados might wonder at the absence of instruments, but Phillips comes from the old-School of a capella only performance. Be it wrong or not, an unaccompanied and transposed performance undeniably works.
The Tallis Scholars sing the mass with the jollity that it deserves, and there are some really wonderful voices in the line-up - 1989 was the hey-day of the Scholars. I would have preferred the music untransposed, but then you can't have everything, especially if, like Peter Phillips, you want high-soaring sopranos: a very English sound.
Double choir Marian antiphons are also on this disc, and they sometimes fall into the dull category of cori spezzati (hence only 4 stars not 5), but Hodie completi sunt and Timor et tremor are both fine pieces, the former performed at original pitch.
Apart from pitch, performance practice afficionados might wonder at the absence of instruments, but Phillips comes from the old-School of a capella only performance. Be it wrong or not, an unaccompanied and transposed performance undeniably works.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
--Orlandus Lassus--
A composer of the late Renaissance period, Orlandus Lassus was born in 1532. Franco-Flemish in background, there is a legend that he was kidnapped three different times during his boyhood for his exquisite choir voice. Lassus produced over 2,000 works in Latin, Italian, French, and German vocal genres, practically every one known in his time. His versatility is virtually unmatched. Among the 2000 pieces were 530 motets (on religious and secular themes) and over 60 masses. His career was spent in the Low Countries, in Italy, and in Germany, and he traveled extensively throughout other European countries. He died in 1594 one of the most celebrated composers of the age.
A composer of the late Renaissance period, Orlandus Lassus was born in 1532. Franco-Flemish in background, there is a legend that he was kidnapped three different times during his boyhood for his exquisite choir voice. Lassus produced over 2,000 works in Latin, Italian, French, and German vocal genres, practically every one known in his time. His versatility is virtually unmatched. Among the 2000 pieces were 530 motets (on religious and secular themes) and over 60 masses. His career was spent in the Low Countries, in Italy, and in Germany, and he traveled extensively throughout other European countries. He died in 1594 one of the most celebrated composers of the age.
--Motets--
Motets (in this sense) are choral settings of Latin religious texts, generally in four to six voiced parts, sometimes more. The first motet, 'Osculetur me', is the basis of the mass that is performed on this disc. Other motets featured here carry the same qualities, with some embellishments and differences. 'Alma Redemptoris Mater' uses a double-choir arrangement as does the first motet; the other Marian motets are in six- and seven-part arrangements. 'Hodie completi sunt' is a strong contrapuntal piece, and 'Timor et tremor' is a unique piece, anticipating some of Gesualdo's work in the next generation.
--Missa Osculetur me--
The mass here consists of the classic parts - Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei. This is one of three double-choir masses Lassus composed. There is long phrasing, constrasting moods, and techniques that compare favourably to the greats Palestrina and Tallis in terms of both parody and original composition. There is a power and force in the music that can, unrestrained, become overpowering. Here it is sublime.
--Liner Notes--
Being internationally acclaimed, the Tallis Scholars' CDs typically present their commentary and texts in English, French, German and Italian (together with any Latin texts); that is true of this disc. The cover art also typically represents visual arts contemporary with the compositions - here it is an Albrecht Altdorfer, The Nativity, circa 1520, from a collection in Munich.
--The Tallis Scholars--
The Tallis Scholars, a favourite group of mine since the first time I heard them decades ago, are a group dedicated to the performance and preservation of the best of this type of music. A choral group of exceptional ability, I have been privileged to see them many times in public, and at almost every performance, their singing seems almost like a spiritual epiphany for me, one that defies explanation in words. Directed by Peter Phillips, the group consists of a small number of male and female singers who have trained themselves well to their task.
Their recordings are of a consistent quality that deserve more than five stars; this particular disc of pieces by Orlandus Lassus deserves a place on the shelf of anyone who loves choral music, liturgical music or Gregorian chant, classical music generally, or religious music. It is wonderful musically and spiritually. The music on this disc was originally recorded in 1989 at the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul, Norfolk, one of their favourite recording sites.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I wholeheartedly agree with Fr. Messick's excellent review above. This is a fabulous disc which I have owned and loved for many years. You may like to know that the mass (but not the motets) is now a part of an excellent double CD at budget price featuring five of the Tallis Scholars' great mass recordings: Flemish Masters Even without the motets it's an absolute belter of a set, and as a representative sample of the best work of all five composers on the disc (Isaac, Lassus, Ockeghem, de Rore and Brumel) you couldn't do any better, I'd say.
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