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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
Holy music, 20 Dec 2005
--Palestrina--
Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina is sometimes called the greatest composer of the Roman Catholic church. Born in 1525 near Rome, he spent the better part of his career in service to the church as a choir member, choir master, conductor, composer and school master. He was sought after by many churches, and sometimes his popularity and skill got him into trouble both with his clerical patrons and with fellow musicians. He was offered prestigious positions in Rome and Vienna which were ultimately withdrawn because Palestrina's salary and conditions requirements were too high. He had some influence on the Council of Trent's musical decisions for reform of the Catholic worship practices, and was involved intimately with revising the Gradual and produced a harmonised version of the Latin Hymnal in 1589. He died in 1594. --Lamentations--
The Lamentations were most likely intended for use in Holy Week, performed as part of the liturgical cycle in Catholic circles, but suppressed in the Protestant areas. Palestrina was very much a figure in the Counter-Reformation, trying to bolster the Catholic liturgies, and this work serves that purpose very much. Included on this disc are the cycles for Maundy Thurday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. This particular recording comes from Palestrina's Fourth Book of Lamentations (Palestrina wrote at least five settings for the Lamentation lessons). This book was unearthed in the early nineteenth century, and is now housed in the Vatican. This, according to Turner, may be the first complete recording of this work - Turner recommends listening to it in three sections, as intended over the three days of Holy Week. The Lamentations are often a dark and foreboding text, particularly when coupled with the goings-on of Holy Week, leading to more and more darkness into the death and burial of Jesus. However, Palestrina couldn't seem to resist adding just a spark of hope, embodied in the sound of a few falsetto parts that brighten the tone a bit. The performance here is done by the Pro Cantione Antiqua, led by Bruce Turner. The Pro Cantione Antiqua have had an extensive recording and performing history, with great experience in the kind of chant, polyphony and Renaissance style that Palestrina calls for. Turner states that in a Renaissance setting, 'music is not something fixed by the written note but something to be recreated rather than reproduced.' There is a free-flowing quality to this performance that gives an interesting interpretation to these magnificent pieces.
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