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Track Listings
| 1. Nesciens mater |
| 2. Ave Maria, gemma virginum |
| 3. Exsultet coniubilando |
| 4. Verbum bonum et suave |
| 5. Missa Tu es Petrus |
| 6. Bona vita, bona refection |
| 7. Factum est silentium |
Product Description
Review
In each of these rich and complex works, the lucidity of both the Brabant Ensemble singing and Rice's direction is hugely impressive. --IRR, Jun'12
Measured account for Brabant portrait of Willaert's teacher. --Gramophone,Aug'12
Mouton's music is freshingly airy and transparent. Highly recommended. Performance *****Recording ***** BBC MUSIC CHORAL & SONG CHOICE --BBC Music Magazine, Sept'12
Measured account for Brabant portrait of Willaert's teacher. --Gramophone,Aug'12
Mouton's music is freshingly airy and transparent. Highly recommended. Performance *****Recording ***** BBC MUSIC CHORAL & SONG CHOICE --BBC Music Magazine, Sept'12
Product Description
Nesciens mater - Ave Maria, gemma virginum - Exsultet coniubilando - Verbum bonum et suave - Missa Tu es Petrus - Bona vita, bona refectio - Factum est silentium / The Brabant Ensemble - Stephen Rice, direction
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By Stephen Midgley
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Audio CD
First of all, this is fabulous music. Jean Mouton, one of a number of outstanding Franco-Flemish contemporaries of the incomparable Josquin, has been poorly served on disc until now - apart from the justifiably much-loved motet "Nesciens mater". That piece makes a fine start to the present disc - with one small reservation which I'll come back to at the end - and it's then followed by a programme of equally fine works which, as far as I know, have never previously been recorded.
The most impressive of these is undoubtedly the Missa Tu es Petrus. This 5-voice cantus firmus mass is an extremely beautiful work in both melody and texture. The clarity of its counterpoint and the radiant, soaring lines remind me a little of Clemens non Papa, one of my own favourites; and yet somehow the result is quite different, for Mouton has a very distinctive manner of his own. Here the voices weave graceful garlands around the chant theme as the composer, far from being in any way restricted by the cantus firmus format, allows himself remarkable freedom to develop his inspired melodic ideas. Moreover this adventurous music, with its starkly prominent lines, is most beautifully delivered by the Brabant Ensemble, singing two voices to a part. This mass is altogether a splendid and inspired work, and truly there is not a single dull moment as it receives a vigorous, committed and profoundly musical interpretation from Stephen Rice and his excellent singers.
There are plenty more treasures in this fascinating and well-organised programme. In addition to "Nesciens mater" there are three other fine 8-voice motets.... Read more ›
The most impressive of these is undoubtedly the Missa Tu es Petrus. This 5-voice cantus firmus mass is an extremely beautiful work in both melody and texture. The clarity of its counterpoint and the radiant, soaring lines remind me a little of Clemens non Papa, one of my own favourites; and yet somehow the result is quite different, for Mouton has a very distinctive manner of his own. Here the voices weave graceful garlands around the chant theme as the composer, far from being in any way restricted by the cantus firmus format, allows himself remarkable freedom to develop his inspired melodic ideas. Moreover this adventurous music, with its starkly prominent lines, is most beautifully delivered by the Brabant Ensemble, singing two voices to a part. This mass is altogether a splendid and inspired work, and truly there is not a single dull moment as it receives a vigorous, committed and profoundly musical interpretation from Stephen Rice and his excellent singers.
There are plenty more treasures in this fascinating and well-organised programme. In addition to "Nesciens mater" there are three other fine 8-voice motets.... Read more ›
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I largely agree with Stephen Midgely's excellent review here. This is another lovely disc from the Brabant Ensemble who continue to rummage in the dusty forgotten corners of the Renaissance repertoire and keep unearthing gems there. Mouton's sublime motet Nesciens mater is deservedly well known and has been recorded a number of times. I'm not sure that I quite share Stephen's unalloyed enthusiasm for the rest of the music, though. It is very good, and the mass setting is a fine one, but I can't say that overall it moves me in quite the same way as, say, their discs of Phinot or Moulu do.
I wonder whether this is also to do with the performance. I fully expected to be writing another unequivocally enthusiastic review of the singing because the Brabants have been fantastic on every disc they've made. Here they still sing very beautifully and are as ever technically flawless, but (and this may just be me) I don't get quite the sense of engagement with the text or the wonderful spirituality which permeates their other discs. I have other versions of Nesciens mater and particularly the one on John Eliot Gardiner's wonderful Pilgrimage to Santiago disc Gardiner: Pilgrimage to Santiago has a limpid, transporting tenderness about it which isn't quite present here.
The notes, presentation and recorded sound are all, as always, excellent and I am sorry to have gone on and to have sounded critical - this is still a five star disc for me and one which I will play with pleasure for many years, I am sure. It's just that for me it's not quite in the five-star-plus category of most of the Brabants' previous discs, but please don't let me out you off - I'd still recommend it warmly.
I wonder whether this is also to do with the performance. I fully expected to be writing another unequivocally enthusiastic review of the singing because the Brabants have been fantastic on every disc they've made. Here they still sing very beautifully and are as ever technically flawless, but (and this may just be me) I don't get quite the sense of engagement with the text or the wonderful spirituality which permeates their other discs. I have other versions of Nesciens mater and particularly the one on John Eliot Gardiner's wonderful Pilgrimage to Santiago disc Gardiner: Pilgrimage to Santiago has a limpid, transporting tenderness about it which isn't quite present here.
The notes, presentation and recorded sound are all, as always, excellent and I am sorry to have gone on and to have sounded critical - this is still a five star disc for me and one which I will play with pleasure for many years, I am sure. It's just that for me it's not quite in the five-star-plus category of most of the Brabants' previous discs, but please don't let me out you off - I'd still recommend it warmly.
5 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Stephen Rice in his accompanying notes concludes by describing Jean Mouton as being "in the best sense, egregious". This seems like a not unreasonable claim on the basis of the music presented here. Whilst the historical significance of Mouton has been acknowledged - he was in the service of Anne of Brittany and Pope Leo X, as well as being teacher to Adrian Willaert - his music is rarely performed, and the Brabant Ensemble here continue their mission of recording some of the less familiar Franco-Flemish composers of the 16th century.
The disc begins with Mouton's four eight-part motets, grandiose constructions indeed; the canonic pieces Nesciens Mater and Ave Maria Gemma Virginum; the triple-texted Exsultet Coniubilando with two cantus firmi; and Verbum Bonum Et Suave, one of the longest and most elaborate motets of the time. The title piece is Mouton's only five part Mass out of the fifteen masses he composed. The disc is completed with two four part motets - Factum Est Silentium on the fight of the archangel Michael with a dragon, and the curious Bona Vita Bona Refectio whose words call priests to what sounds like a rather agreeable meal.
But what of the egregiousness of the Brabant Ensemble themselves? I have often thought the sound quality of their recordings a little deficient, diffuse and lacking textual clarity, unsure as to whether this might be an acoustic problem, or else simply that the doubling up of voices lacks a certain tuning. Well here I think we have a clue. In the Missa Tu Es Petrus, the Benedictus is sung by three solo voices, in this case the three Ashby sisters who are regulars of the ensemble. I can only say: what an improvement, and no concomitant loss of dynamic.... Read more ›
The disc begins with Mouton's four eight-part motets, grandiose constructions indeed; the canonic pieces Nesciens Mater and Ave Maria Gemma Virginum; the triple-texted Exsultet Coniubilando with two cantus firmi; and Verbum Bonum Et Suave, one of the longest and most elaborate motets of the time. The title piece is Mouton's only five part Mass out of the fifteen masses he composed. The disc is completed with two four part motets - Factum Est Silentium on the fight of the archangel Michael with a dragon, and the curious Bona Vita Bona Refectio whose words call priests to what sounds like a rather agreeable meal.
But what of the egregiousness of the Brabant Ensemble themselves? I have often thought the sound quality of their recordings a little deficient, diffuse and lacking textual clarity, unsure as to whether this might be an acoustic problem, or else simply that the doubling up of voices lacks a certain tuning. Well here I think we have a clue. In the Missa Tu Es Petrus, the Benedictus is sung by three solo voices, in this case the three Ashby sisters who are regulars of the ensemble. I can only say: what an improvement, and no concomitant loss of dynamic.... Read more ›
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