Musica Fict[ici]a

Fecha: 18-X-2012. 21:00 horas.
Lugar: S.I. Catedral de Santa María [León].
Contexto: Décimo concieto del Gestival Internacional de Órgano Catedral de León [FIOCLE]. Entrada gratuita.
Programa: Hispanarvm Rex Catholicvs.
Intérprete: Musica Ficta - Raúl Mallavibarrena.

   Me presentaba en la hermosísima Pulchra Leonina con ciertas ilusiones, pues hoy día sigue resultando más que complicado el acudir a un concierto de polifonía renacentista en nuestro país. Además, el programa resultaba interesante en ciertos aspectos. Acudí con una hora de antelación, porque estos conciertos gratuitos se abarrotan de gente -aficionados conscientes o no-, por el mero hecho de dicha gratuidad. Esperé sentando que empezase el concierto con las mismas ganas, intactas, que tenía al llegar. Lamentablemente, estas se me fueron borrando con el transcurso del concierto.

   El programa, ya digo que de cierto interés en algunos puntos, era el siguiente:

  

Hispaniarum Rex Catholicus

Cristóbal de Morales [1500-1553]
Simile est Regnum caelorum

Bartolomé de Escobedo [1510-1563]
Kyrie “Philippus Rex Hispaniae”

Francisco Guerrero [1528-1599]
Quasi stella matutina

Anónimo [s.XVI]
Puestas están frente a frente
[romance sobre la Batalla de Alcazarquivir, 1578]

Tomás Luis de Victoria [1548-1611]
O quam gloriosum est Regnum
O lux est decus Hispaniae

Diego Ortiz [1510-1570]
Salve Regina

Anónimo [Perú]
Hanaqpachap Cussicuinin

Gaspar Fernandes [1566-1629]
Xicochi

Alonso Lobo [1555-1617]
Versa est in luctum

Tomás Luis de Victoria
Taedet animam meam
(Officium defunctorum)

Francisco Guerrero
Prado verde y florido
Al resplandor de una estrella

    Digo que es intersante, pues, a pesar de tener obras de "obligada consulta" para estos conjuntos -aunque no debiera ser siempre así-, había en este programa algunos piezas menos trilladas y de mayor interés musicológico, como podían ser las de Escobedo, Ortiz o Lobo, además de algunas piezas, que a pesar de ser de alguno de los grandes polifonistas del XVI, no están entre lo más conocido -por el mal llamado "gran público"-, lo cual siempre es de agradecer.

   El conjunto estaba formado por tres cantores por parte, acompañados por unos ministriles, entre los que encontrábamos un cornetto, tres sacabuches y un bajón.

   Como digo, la música, más o menos trillada, era una absoluta garantía, porque había allí auténticas obras maestras de la polifonía hispánica, pero aunque uno puede disfrutar solo con la música, necesita de unos intérpretes que la pongan en el valor que merece, y fue en este punto donde las cosas no funcionaron aquella fría tarde.

   Parte de mis expectativas partían también por el propio grupo, al que conozco por su grabaciones y del que esperaba más, precisamente porque tienen buenos registros de la música de Victoria, Morales y Guerrero, entre otros, sobre todo por su último disco [18, editado en Enchiriadis], dedicado a los responsorios de tinieblas del abulense universal, y que resultó realmente fantástico. Pues bien, poco o nada de aquello encontré en este directo.

   Para empezar, la calidad de las voces distaba bastante de ser la deseable para un concierto de estas características, en las que cada línea y cantor son tan independientes y están tan expuestos. No eran, por supuesto, malas voces -de eso no cabe duda-, pero creo que en España sigue habiendo un problema de concepto a la hora de abordar la interpretación de polifonía del XV o XVI, y es que los intérpretes siguen empeñados en cantar con voces más bien oscuras, gruesas, con peso... que quedan bien lejos de aquello que para muchos es lo más deseable en estos repertorios y que tiene a los cantores ingleses como grandes dominadores y ejemplo a seguir. La línea de sopranos fue quizá lo más solvente, con un sonido empastado y bastante brillante. Las altos -sin ningún contratenor- estuvieron bastante escondidas en muchos momentos, echándose mucho en falta quizá esa potencia y sonoridad que puede aportar un contra. Los tenores, con un sonido que se agarraba más y más conforme la línea subía de tesitura, no me convencieron en absoluto, al igual que sucedió con los bajos, menos presentes de lo deseable y con un sonido poco elegante en ciertos momentos.

   Además, el uso de los ministriles, que es siempre un tema muy controvertido, resultó demasiado enturbiador, conviertiendo las líneas en una maraña de voces e instrumentos muy poco clarificadora. Su concurso resultó hermoso de sonido, pero fueron demasiados los momentos en los que su preeminecia fue mayor de lo que sería deseable, actuando como una sordina para las voces y complicando en exceso la comprensión de cada línea, algo tan fundamental en la polifonía del XVI.

   El trabajo del director no será puesto en duda aquí, pero considero que su gesto resulta excesivo, inquietante e innecesario. ¿Es realmente necesario marcar cada entrada, giro o compás en cada una de las  obra? Si algo define a la polifonía del Renacimiento es su facilidad para fluir prácticamente sola. Además, muchas de las decisiones interpretativas en referencia a la utilización de voces e instrumentos, sustituyendo líneas vocales por ministriles, resultó bastante arbitaria y ello afectó a la música. Es necesario tener una gran base documental tras estas decisiones, porque se corre un riesgo muy alto al tomarlas a la ligera. Del mismo, algunas obras resultaron, en su carácter, realmente inadecuadas, sobre todo en su relación texto-música, como el Taedet anima meam a 4 de Victoria, una obra sublime, que fue arrebatada aquí de todo su hondura y dramatismo, con una versión realmente frívola y ajena al sentido del texto.

Los mejores momentos fueron reservados para las piezas menos profundas, más livianas, como fueron las pertenecientes a Guerrero, que cerraron el programa, así como las dos piezas de allende los mares, que fueron ofrecidas de propina y no en el orden en el que aparecían en el programa original.

   En resumidas cuentas, una auténtica lástima a nivel interpretativo, de una música de mucho kilates a la que se le puede sacar un inmenso partido. Será en otra ocasión, pero me temo que no por españoles...

The Choir Project al día [10-XI-2012]

Thomas Ashewell [c.1478-c.1513]: Missa Ave Maria.
Huelgas Ensemble - Paul Van Nevel.
English splendid isolation.

    Paul Ven Nevel writes:
"Thomas Ashewell is something of an odd man out in this company. He is nonetheless an eminent illustration of the 'splendid isolation' English polyphony maintained from polyphonic trends on the continent. Although he belongs to the generation immediately preceding that of Palestrina and Lassus, comparisons between them are fascinating. Born around 1478 and dying a some time after 1513, Ashewell is in fact a precursor of the other two composers. He is mentioned for the first time as one of the clerici conducticii at Tattershall College in Lincolnshire in 1502 and again in 1503. He later became “informator choristarum” at Lincoln Cathedral. By 1513 he was cantor at Durham Cathedral, where his versatility is shown by the fact that he taught plainchant, polyphony, faburden, discant, organ and 'countre' [the improvisation of a melody over an existing melodic line]. Only two complete works by Ashewell are extant, one of which is the Missa Ave Maria for six voices.

    Although this mass, like Palestrina's, is founded on a cantus firmus, the technical resources used here belong to a completely different universe. The diversity and rhythmic complexity of Ashewell's work present a complete contrast to Palestrina's
meditative counterpoint. The typically English 'flamboyant Gothic' aspect of the contrapuntal texture around the Gregorian Ave Maria melody reaches a degree
of complexity, equally manifest in the handling of false relations [when the same note appears in two voices, but with a different accidental, e.g. G sharp against G natural], that was unknown on the continent even a generation later. The refinement of craftsmanship is evident right from the introductory section of each movement of the mass [Ashewell did not set the Kyrie], where the head-motif of the theme [F-C-D-D-A-B flat-A] is inventively 'glossed' in a different way each time.

    The rhythmic and contrapuntai peculiarities of early sixteenth-century England thus round out a multifaceted picture of Renaissance Europe: Lassus, or polyphony on a human scale; Palestrina, or fragile transcendence; Ashewell, or the virtuosity of unceasing melodic ornamentation."

    In my opinion, this is a fantastic example of "English splendid isolation" before Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.
The performance is absolutely wonderful. All the lines are really fantastic, but specially the male voices, with these amazing tenors [Nick Todd is for me the best english tenor in ensemble] and the fantastic lower basses, make the particular "Huelgas sound".
An indispensable album, wich is an ideal place to compare and contrast the three major styles of the Renaissance: the strict classical counterpoint of the Roman school and the path of transcendence [Palestrina], the ripe fruit of the Franco-Flemish style and the cpounterpoint on a human scale [Lassus], flamboyant English late Gothic and the irresistible appeal of virtuoso ornamentation [Ashewell].

• Album.
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• Agnus Dei. Live performance.

 

The Choir Project ald día [06-XI-2012]

William Byrd [1540-1623]: Infelix ego a 6 from Cantiones Sacrae [1591].
The Cardinall's Musick - Andrew Carwood.
The great Catholic Byrd.

   Andrew Carwood says about Byrd and this motet:
"It is perhaps no surprise that Elizabethan England should have produced such an amazing array of artistic talent. Increased prosperity, strongly enforced government with a consistent religious policy, the growth of confidence as England took its place as a diplomatic and military force, these all helped to create the right conditions in which the arts could flourish. The arts were no longer simply used for reasons of propaganda and display but saw an increase in the importance of the individual and his unique abilities, a natural development from the humanistic ideas of the Renaissance. Standing at the pinnacle of this English flourishing is William Shakespeare, a man who through his crafting of words, control of drama and subtle character development could speak to people in many and various ways. Raucous vaudeville, romantic plot lines or searing tragedy for all, as well as coded political messages for monarchs, princes and politicians all under the guise of ‘innocent’ entertainment. If there is an English musician who comes close to Shakespeare in his consummate artistry, his control over so many genres and his ability to speak with emotional directness it must be William Byrd.

   Byrd spent his formative years in the maelstrom of the English reformation. Born in the reign of Henry VIII, he would have seen the changes brought in by Edward VI and his Protestant advisors and experienced, perhaps more deeply, Mary’s artistically stimulating Catholic restoration in his teenage years. As an adult he lived through the reign of Elizabeth and was in his sixties when her successor James came to the throne. It seems clear that Byrd’s sympathies lay with the Catholic cause. Unlike most of his contemporaries (except Peter Philips who fled to the Continent) the majority of his religious music was written in Latin. Furthermore, in the 1590s and the dangerous months after the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 he published not only music in Latin but texts specifically designed to be performed during the celebration of Catholic Mass and Divine Office. His three settings of the Ordinary movements of the Mass were published in the early 1590s and his two books of Gradualia in 1605 and 1607 respectively. In addition he published Latin sacred music in 1575, 1589 and 1591 and left a host of pieces in manuscript. It is interesting that not a note of his music for Elizabeth’s reformed church (including the monumental Great Service for ten voices) was published during his lifetime.

   Byrd was probably not encouraged to write by the stability or consistency of Elizabeth’s reign. It is possible that the anti-Catholic legislation enacted by the government was a stimulus; perhaps even the crescendo of tension around the imminent arrival of the first Spanish Armada and its defeat in 1588 might have had an effect on the composer but this is merely speculation. The simple fact appears to be that Byrd proclaimed through his music his Catholic faith, the deprivation that he felt and the hope to which he clung. In so doing, he spoke directly to the Catholic community with messages of hope and consolation. It is remarkable that Byrd escaped serious penalty for his beliefs. Perhaps the censors and the spies did not understand his messages or notice his carefully chosen texts where verses from scripture were placed in a different order so as to highlight a particular emotion. Perhaps music was not thought to be a serious threat. And perhaps Byrd’s devotion to the country of his birth was clearly understood. He never left England and if he considered the possibility of joining the throng of Catholic exiles he never acted on the idea. Undoubtedly the greatest point in his favour was his brilliance as a musician. He was able to assimilate the sounds of the past as taught to him by John Sheppard and Thomas Tallis, to learn from his contemporaries (especially Alfonso Ferrabosco) and then to be at the forefront of compositional development at all times, most notably in the madrigalian pieces of the 1591 Cantiones Sacrae and the two books of Gradualia (published when Byrd was in his sixties). Elizabeth I might even have been personally aware and appreciative of his talents. Surely she must have been moved by his most beautiful English-texted piece O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth our Queen to rejoice in thy strength. Is it too fanciful to suggest that there was some degree of understanding between the two? Shakespeare was allowed to make pointed contemporary remarks under the cloak of entertainment: perhaps Byrd was given the same liberty with his music.

   Infelix ego is the crowning glory of Byrd’s achievement as a composer of spiritual words and one of the greatest artistic statements of the sixteenth century. The text is a meditation on Psalm 50 written by the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498). This remarkable man successfully led a campaign in Florence against the corrupt Medici family. With his powerful preaching he roused the townsfolk in religious zeal, cast out the Medici and set up a devastatingly rigorous Christian regime. Inevitably the fickle populace eventually grew tired of Savonarola’s severe piety and welcomed the Medici back; to satisfy their wounded pride, the family arranged for Savonarola to be tried for heresy (rather than treason) and then executed by fire. This remarkable text, taking the form of a number of rhetorical statements and questions, shows the whole gamut of emotion from a soul in torment—guilt, fear, embarrassment, anger, but crucially the gift of release when Christ’s mercy is accepted.

   Infelix ego had been set before by Adrian Willaert, Cipriano de Rore and Orlandus Lassus but none of these comes even close to this emotional tour de force. Byrd would have known Tallis’s radical setting of the prayer Suscipe quaeso Domine which uses homophony set against polyphony to underline rhetorical questions and which must inform the younger composer’s setting. But more than this Byrd seems to have an emotional link with Savonarola’s words and to understand the mindset which has given rise to them. Savonarola sits in his cell in Florence awaiting execution for having followed his heart and his religious faith. At one time he was acclaimed by the people and his beliefs were an integral part of their lives. Byrd is in England, cut off from his faith and the rest of the Church to which he belongs. His colleagues are persecuted for their beliefs, beliefs which had been held by most of the people in England. Perhaps it is this shared metaphorical experience which leads Byrd to understand the real power of this text. There is not the space here for a full analysis of this Renaissance symphony, nor time to refer to all of the telling and subtle gestures which permeate the piece. The upward melodies which express the yearning in the writer’s eyes looking up to heaven for redemption, like Marlowe’s Faustus seeing the blood of Christ running in the heavens but being unable to access it. The juxtaposition of polyphony with homophony throughout: the constant ebbing and flowing of emotion as powerful as the sea. The build up of tension caused by an extended period of imitation around one of Byrd’s most frequently chosen words (‘misericordiam’ or ‘mercy’). The master stroke of a caesura followed by an astonishing chord progression and then a coda where it seems as if the longed-for mercy has actually been received."

   For me this is one of best motets in Byrd's production. One of few, also with tripartite structure and one of longest on his work.
These performance is really wonderful, sing here the six parts with two singers per part [svperivs, medivs, contratenor, sextvs, tenor & bassvs], using a really "dream team" of Bristish singers.
This album -volume 13 of William Byrd edition on Hyperion Records- is absolutely fantastic and indispensable recording.

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Huelgas Ensemble: dos noticias, dos

   Echando un vistazo a la página web del Huelgas Ensemble -algo que suelo hacer con bastante asiduidad-, me encuentro hoy con un par de novedades, noticias de alcance que me alegraron y que creo conveniente compartir con los lectores de este ||:doblebarra:||, y que estoy seguro serán motivo de regocijo para todos aquellos que siguen con pasión las andanzas del que es uno de los mejores conjuntos vocales del planeta.

   La primera de ellas hace referencia a una novedad discográfica. Se trata del último disco que el conjunto belga ha grabado bajo la dirección de Paul Van Nevel, un disco monográfico con repertorio inglés, centrado en obras del Eton Choirbook. La novedad, ya de un enorme interés per se -pues cualquier nuevo disco de este grupo supone todo un evento-, lo es todavía más si tenemos en cuenta que se trata del primer disco que el conjunto graba íntegramente con repertorio proveniente de las islas británicas. Solamente se habían acercado a piezas de este territorio en momentos muy puntuales, como recordarmos con la grabación de la Missa Ave Maria, de Thomas Ashewell, para el disco La Quinta essentia.

Estamos, por lo tanto, ante un documento sonoro único y que habrá de hacer las delicias de todo aquel amante de la polifonía renacentista más elegante, además de los miles de seguidores del conjunto.

Esperemos, pues, ese 16 de noviembre, fecha en la que podremos hacernos con una copia.

   La segunda noticia tiene relación con el papel de Van Nevel como maestro, como sabio que traspasará sus cientos de conocimientos sobre el repertorio medieval y renacentista a aquellos que quieras recibirlos. Se ha programado la "Huelgas Academy 2013", un academia dedicada a formar a los asistentes sobre los entresijos de estos repertorios tan apasionantes. A lo largo de cinco fines de semana -entre enero y febrero-, el maestro belga irá centrándose en cuestiones puntuales del repertorio.

Toda la información necesaria de este suculento curso puede leerse a continuación [en inglés]:

HUELGAS ACADEMY 2013

In January and February 2013 the Huelgas Ensemble is organizing five weekend courses covering various aspects of music between 1200 and 1600.
The weekends are a sequel to the successful course on the subject of notation which took place in July 2012.
The courses will be given by Paul Van Nevel. Each one will begin on Saturday at 14.00 and end on Sunday at 21.00,
and will take place in Brussels.
The themes per weekend are as follows:

1. Saturday 12 & Sunday 13 January:
– the notation of polyphonic music 1200-1600: types of score, layout of the manuscripts   
– the evolution of the notation: from modal notation up to and  including open mensural rules of notation
– a thorough study of French black notation
– an in-depth exploration of the systems of coloration and proportion
This course in part recapitulates material dealt with on 7-8 July 2012.
However,  those who participated then could also find this reiteration and supplementation most useful.

2. Saturday 19 & Sunday 20 January:
–    musical forms in medieval polyphony:  organum, the clausula, the motet, the conductus, the isorhythmic motet, the cyclic mass,
the ballade, the ballatà, the virelai, the rondeau and the trecento madrigal: sources, notation, transcription, interpretation

3. Saturday 26 & Sunday 27 January:
–    musical forms in Renaissance vocal polyphony: the cantus firmus mass, the parody mass, the motet and related forms,
the chanson (song, lied), the madrigal, the lamentation, the villançico, the Tenorlied : sources, notation, transcription, interpretation

4. Saturday 2 & Sunday 3 February :
–    the tradition of text placement: the evolution of the rules 1350-1600 for singers and composers; examples and exercises
–    the musica ficta rules in the light of the laws of counterpoint and of the hexachord system
–    chiavette and transposition

5. Saturday 9 & Sunday 10 February :
– study of an important manuscript: its history, content, concordances, notation, different transcriptions and part assignments,
plus singing from the original notation.
The choice of the manuscript will depend on the number of participants and on their own preferences.

The courses are open to all interested parties. Singing experience is an advantage, but not a necessity.

Each weekend a comprehensive file of documentation will be provided, including illustrations of original documents in colour and black and white.

Course 1 is compulsory for those wishing to attend courses 2, 3, 4 and/or 5, unless they are capable of reading mensural notation quickly.

Weekends 2 up to and including 5 are separate entities. You can sign up for one, for several or for all the weekends.

For all further details concerning the cost of the courses, their location, the signing up terms and conditions etc., email to this address: dubrouillard@gmail.com

   Realmente se trata de una oportunidad maravillosa para poder del maestro, lo que supone una experiencia completamente inolvidable -de la que, afortunadamente, puedo dar fe-.

   El Huelgas y Van Nevel siguen vivos, así pues regocijémonos por ello y disfrutemos de todo lo que tienen para ofrecernos.

The Choir Project al día [06-X-2012]

Robert Parsons (c.1535-1572): Ave Maria a 5.
The Sixteen - Harry Christophers.
The marvellous english lines.

   Andrew Carwood says about Parsons and this piece:
"Lack of information about a composer is a common problem for the researcher of early music, especially in sixteenth-century England where so many records have been lost. Add to this a seemingly early and unusual death and a mournful personal note from a contemporary collector of sacred music and Robert Parsons proves to be even more fascinating than most of his contemporaries.

    Robert Parsons is first found in a Teller’s Roll for 1560/1 which refers to him co-ordinating payments to Richard Bower, Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal. The Cheque Book of the Chapel Royal records Parsons’ appointment as a Gentleman on 17 October 1563:

Merton died 22nd of September, and Roberte Parsons sworne in his place the 17th October, Ao 5to.

    Unusually there is no note of the place where he had previously been employed and this, together with the references in the Teller’s Roll, suggests that Parsons was connected with the Chapel before he became a Gentleman. On 30 May 1567 he was granted a Crown lease for twenty-one years on three rectories near Lincoln (‘Sturton, Randbie and Staynton’) and in 1571 an annual tax certificate issued to court servants confirms his residence as being in Greenwich. The next mention is a further emotionless reference in the Cheque Book of the Chapel Royal:

Robt. Parsons was drowned at Newark uppon Trent the 25th of Januarie, and Wm. Bird sworne gentleman in his place at the first the 22d of Februarie followinge, Ao 14o Lincolne.

    Quite why he was travelling near Newark is unclear. He may have been visiting his rectories or attending to other business but it is clear that he died in 1572, the fourteenth regnal year of Queen Elizabeth I. His only epitaph is a couplet found in the partbooks prepared by the copyist Robert Dow in the 1580s which suggests that Parsons was highly esteemed and suffered an early death:

Qui tantus primo Parsone in flore fuisti
Quantus in autumno ni morere fores.

[Parsons, you who were so great in the springtime of life,
how great you would have been in the autumn, had death not come.]

    Parsons lived through some of the most tumultuous years of the sixteenth century as the four religious settlements loosely termed the English Reformation tore society apart. After Henry VIII’s break with Rome and his relatively conservative reforms, the baton was then passed in 1549 to his son Edward VI who, steered by his Protestant advisors and then later developing his own agenda, pursued a more radical path. This course was halted by Edward’s half-sister, Mary I, eldest daughter of Henry VIII and devout Catholic, in 1553. She returned England to communion with Rome and met with much support for her policies until the economic downturn of the late 1550s and her own increasing personal instability. Then in turn her death in 1558 and the accession of Elizabeth I, her half-sister and Henry’s second daughter, led to a new English settlement which drew on Edward’s reforms but with considerably more artistic and liturgical sensitivity than had been allowed by the young king.

    The surviving music by Parsons consists of nine pieces in Latin, two Services in English, two anthems in English, a handful of secular songs and some instrumental pieces including five In nomines. The lack of small-scale English sacred music seems to suggest that Parsons was not active as a composer during the reign of Edward VI. His earliest work is probably the opulent setting of the Magnificat which harkens back to a tradition seen clearly in the Eton Choirbook and which was developed by Robert Fayrfax, Nicholas Ludford and John Taverner. Five Magnificats in the Forrest-Heyther Partbooks and the Office Hymns by Tallis and Sheppard seem to suggest that Mary was keen to reinstate large-scale music at the Office of Vespers. The lack of accompanying Nunc dimittis settings suggest these Magnificats were designed specifically for Vespers rather than the reformed Evensong when both Canticles would be required.

    Parsons’ setting uses a traditional alternation of plainsong and polyphony and is scored for six voices, sometimes with lengthy divisions or gimells, but this is no mere exercise by a young composer trying to find his feet. That Parsons has a sophisticated grasp of compositional techniques is seen most clearly in his use of canon (where one or more parts will repeat exactly a melody sung by an opening voice). These can be found in the sections Quia fecit mihi magna (at the octave between triplex and contratenor II), et sanctum nomen eius (at the ninth between tenor and medius), et semini eius in saecula (at the tenth between bassus and medius) and at Sicut erat in principio (a three-part canon at the unison between the two contratenors and at the octave with the triplex). Although Parsons is obviously drawing on older models, his setting seems less archaic than that by Robert White. There is no reliance on cantus firmus and the plainchant melody is given only slight attention in the polyphonic verses. Parsons does however preserve the use of melismatic writing for the solo lines and contrasts these with more massive full-choir sections.

    Ave Maria has become Parsons’ most famous and well-loved motet since it was included in the Oxford Book of Tudor Anthems in 1978. Settings of the Ave Maria are not frequent in England—even William Byrd only set them as required by the liturgy in his two books of Gradualia (1605 and 1607) rather than as stand-alone pieces. Parsons simply sets the lines found in the Gospel of St Luke and has no invocation for the dead (authorized by Pope Pius V in 1568). This is a magical setting and it is not surprising that there is a beautiful Amen coda. Initially the piece gives the impression of using a cantus firmus in the top part but it is in fact free-composed throughout. Parsons starts each medius phrase one note higher than the previous one, beginning on F and then moving up to D with long slow notes before reaching benedicta tu when it joins the other voices in equal importance. Paul Doe has suggested that this piece might have been prompted by the early promise or subsequent plight of Mary, Queen of Scots. There is no direct evidence for this but it is not unreasonable to consider Parsons and indeed most of the mid-sixteenth-century writers—Sheppard, Tallis, White, Mundy and Tye—as Catholic sympathizers. They seem more free, more expressive, more expansive and more brave in their Latin compositions and it is tempting to speculate that in setting words from Psalms 15 and 119, the Lamentations and the Funeral Responds, they were consciously producing music with a Catholic slant. In comparison their English works tend to be shorter and less virtuosic and even the fledgling Great Services are short on excellent material, but then these mid-sixteenth-century composers were creating a new genre not previously explored and were probably writing to fulfil a set of rules which were not entirely clear. England had to wait for another generation—headed by William Byrd, Thomas Weelkes and Thomas Morley—before writing in English could achieve greatness."

    For me, this is one of the most beautiful pieces in the Renaissance music. Its evocative power is simply wonderful.
Here are some of the most beautiful lines ever written. In addition, the amazing "amen" is one of the most melismatic and overwhelming parts of all English Renaissance repertoire.

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The Choir Project al día [08-IX-2012]

Tiburtio Massaino (c.1550-1609): Musica super Threnos Ieremiae prophete in maiori hebdomada decantadas a 5 (Venezia, 1599). Feria V. In coena Domini. Lectio prima.
Huelgas-Ensemble - Paul Van Nevel.
Music to express.

In words of the great Paul Van Nevel:

“The Lamentations (Thrênoi, Threni, Lamentationes) of the Prophet Jeremiah were written in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of Judah in 586 B.C. The text was written by eyewitnesses and definitively compiled during the Babylonian captivity. Jeremiah was therefore certainly not the sole author of the Lamentations, and some authorities even think that he had no hand at all in the writing of the text.

The Lamentations consist of five chapters, or rather songs or cantos. The structure of the first, second and fourth chapters is identical. Each of them comprises 22 verses, corresponding to the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The Latin Vulgate wished to preserve the reminiscence of this alphabet and therefore begins each verse with the first Hebrew letter of the verse. So the first verses of Chapters I, I1 and IV begin with the letter ALEPH followed by the Latin text, the second verse begins with BETH, the third with GHIMEL, and so on. In addition, the first Lamentation starts with the heading Incipit Lamentatio Hieremiae Prophetae, which, however, is not always sung.

The structure of the third Lamentation differs from that of I, II and IV. The shorter verses (I and II consist of verses in three sections, IV of verses in two sections) are linked in groups of three in the third Lamentation. Each of these grouped verses begins with the same Hebrew letter, so that the chapter comprises not 22 but 66 verses. The Vuigate, too, always repeats this letter. The structnre of Song III is therefore: ALEPH   (. . .), ALEPH (. . .), ALEPH, (...) BETH (...), BETH (...), BETH (...), etc. The fifth and last chapter differs from the others in various ways. In the first place this chapter has the character of a prayer (the Vulgate begins with the title Oratio…). Moreover, there is no mention of the letter at the beginning of each verse. Finally, they are very simply structured in two distinct sections.

The text of Lamentations is highly emotional, rich in imagery and in a language replete with rhetorical turns of phrase. It is a text which, as has been mentioned, was written by eyewitnesses and therefore manifests - how could it not? - an intimate relationship with the sorrow, helplessness, bitterness and supplications of the population of Jerusalem.
It is precisely this aspect of the combination of dramatic elements and meditative fragments, together with the incantatory citation of the Hebrew letters that undoubtedly attracted the attention of medieval and particularly of Renaissance composers. Otherwise how can it be explained why a text that - unlike the Mass, for instance - was used only once a year (during Holy Week) inspired so many composers? (1).

From the Middle Ages on parts of the Lamentations were used in one specific instant of the Divine Office, i.e. during matins on Maundy, Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday. Matins, a prayer and sung service that took place before dawn, consisted successively of three psalms and three lessons (lectio). It was for the first nocturne of matins on the last three days of Holy Week that the Lamentations were used for the three lessons. A total of nine lessons were therefore devoted to the Lamentations. The use of the Lamentations during matins had another peculiarity. At the end of the verses each lesson was concluded with the verse Jerusalem, Jerusalem, convertere ad dominum Deum tuum. This was not a Biblical text, but it served as a kind of refrain that was repeated after each lesson.

The selection of the Lamentations for the lessons varied greatly from region to region until the Council of Trent (1545-1563). The choice, number and order of the verses were determined by local preferences. After the Council of Trent, that had attempted to impose certain rules on ecclesiastical music, there seems still to have been room for local discretion, as may be observe in listening to the four Lamentations on this CD. The liturgical monophonic repertoire comprises at least several hundred melodies among which Spanish manuscripts are particularly prevalent. Many polyphonic compositions have as their cantus firmus the best know pslm tone on F (F-G-A…), with the formula A-G-F-G-F for the Hebrew letters. The use of a different cantus firmus was, however, common (as, for instance, in the compositions of Robert White).

Because of the somber character of the text and its position in the liturgy (at night, before dawn, during the most sorrowful days in the liturgical calendar), it goes without saying that these polyphonic compositions create a very particular mood. Shorn of all festive ornament, these Lamentations go back to the very essence of polyphony, while the tiniest detail, the slightest emotional turn can create a wondrous effect. And thought the exordium - like Hebrew letters (without substantive “meaning”) were composed in an entreating melismatic style, and though many composers used a sturdy harmonic idiom in particularly inviting passages (e.g. plorans ploravit and o vos omnes), Nicola Vicentino (1511-1576) writes in his treatise L’Antica Musica ridotta alla moderna prattica (Roma, 1555) that “… Every singer must take care that when singing lamentations he does not sing a single ornament (diminution), lest the sorrowful character turn into a joyful mood…” (Book IV, Ch. 42).

(1). As late as the 19th century the Holy Week matins (called the Tenebrae were still very popular because of their powerful musical attractiveness. When Franz List was asked was particularly worth hearing in Rome -opera, symphonic or chamber music - he emphatically replied, “No, certainly not that. That sort of thing can be heard anywhere else, and better. Musically there is one thing that is unique and incomparable: the Tenebrae in the great basilicas”.

Van Nevel continues:
“Tiburtio Massaino (c.1550-1609 was an Augustine monk and composer-singer in Cremona, Innsbruck (at the court of Archduke Ferdinand III) and Salzburg where he was arrested on suspicion of homosexuality. He subsequently fled to Praha where he became a singer in the court chapel of the Emperor Rudolph. From 1594 he was back in Italy as Maestro di Cappella in Lodi and Piacenza. His 5-part Lamentations were published in 1599 and were dedicated to the monastery of Monte Oliveti in Piacenza.
So Massaino wrote his Lamentations for the surroundings where they belong: the closed monastic community. The music is in a polyphonic idiom, but mostly syllabic. The structure is supported by a rich harmonic tone palette that does not shun the occasional surprise, as on the text … et lachrime of the BETH verse. The melismatic “acclamations” of the Hebrew letters are, compared to those of his comtemporaries, short (five to six breves). The “Hierusalem”, that uses a slow-moving falling motive in the voices on the word “convertere”, is particularly beautiful”.

I think the music for Lamentations is probably the most expressive in the Renaissance polyphony, as well as the music of Requiem. This album is absolutely fantastic. Pure “Huelgas sound”, with an expressive power that drags you to deeper insight of the life. Highly recommended; absolutely essential.

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Novedades discográficas: septiembre 2012

Agostino Steffani (1654-1728).
Mission.

Cecilia Bartoli & I Barocchisti - Diego Fasolis.

Decca Classics 4784721.

   Estamos ante el que es, con total seguridad, uno de los lanzamientos más esperados del año, porque Cecilia Bartoli mueve auténticas legiones de seguidores -entre los que me incluyo-. Siguiendo con el repertorio barroco, se centra ahora en la figura del enigmático y polifacético Agostino Steffani. Se prometen grandes sorpresas y un éxito asegurado. Se anuncia, además, una gran gira mundial con este programa e intérpretes.

Existe más información disponibles en estas dos entradas de este mismo blog: La "Mission" de Bartoli y Bartoli ya no tiene "Mission" secreta.

Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750).

Missa 1733.

Pygmalion - Raphaël Pichon.

Alpha (Outhere-Music) ALPHA188.

   Uno de los lanzamiento que personalmente me suscita mayor interés es este, del joven conjunto francés Pygmalion, centrado, como la totalidad de su dicografía hasta el momento, el la figura del Kantor. Se trata de una versión más de la celebérrima H-Moll Messe BWV 232, en la llamada "versión de Dresden", que en 1733 fuera dedicada por BACH al Príncipe Elector de Sajonia, primero como una misa luterana, que posteriormente sería utilizada y completada como misa católica. La anuncian como la "versión original" de la pieza. Con un quintento vocal de lujo, el coro y orquesta barroca de Pygamlion parecen interpretar una versión fresca, que personalmente me parece sonar muy "herreweghiana" y realmente fantástica.

Alpha aún no aporta información sobre este disco en su página, pero sí podemos ver ese clip promocinal en el que se aportan datos sobre la grabación, aunque en francés.

Conductus, Vol. I. (Music & Poetry from Thirteenth Century France).

John Potter (tenor), Christopher O'Gorman (tenor), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor).

Hyperion CDA6794.

   Dos de los clásicos miembros del Hilliard Ensemble -el que fuer su fundador, John Potter, y el tenor agudo, Rogers Covey-Crump, que aún hoy es miembro- se vuelven a juntar, junto a la participación de un tercer tenor, para realizar la grabación de la que parece será una serie de discos dedicados al repertorio vocal sacro de la Edad Media, no sé si centrados únicamente en Francia, o también en otros territorios europeos. Conociendo el desenvolvimiento de estos intérpretes en estos repertorios, creo que debemos celebrar mucho este reciente lanzamiento y la aparente intención de continuidad de la serie.

La Monarcha (17th-century music from the Spanish territories).

Cordevento.

Brilliant Classics 94352.

    Parece que un nuevo conjunto irrumpe de nuevo en escena, y traen un repertorio muy interesante y bastante novedoso, con varias piezas como primeras grabaciones mundiales. Con la particpación de flautas de pico, guitarra barroca y clave, nos traen músicas danzables de los territorios hispánicos en el siglo XVII, un muy sugerente programa, que al precio al que nos tiene acostumbrado Brilliant, hace de esta compra algo casi absolutamente ineludible.


Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750).
Trio Sonatas.
Florilegium - Ashley Solomon.
Channel Classics CCSSA2701.

   El conjunto británico Florilegium nos presenta esta adapatción para diversos instrumentos de las sonatas en trío, originariamente compuestas para órgano. Encontramos en ellas, traverso barroco, viola da gamba, láud barroco, clave, violín barroco, viola barroca y cello barroco. Un universo tímbrico fascinante para unas obras que suponen un auténtico monumento para el instrumento rey. Veremos qué tal funcionan estos arreglos.


Nordic Sounds 2.
Swedish Radio Choir - Peter Dijkstra.
Channel Classics CCSSA32812.

   Segundo volumen de esa serie que Dijkstra y el excepcional coro de la radio sueca están llevando a cabo, interpretando piezas de compositores nórdicos contemporáneos. Una música que se caracteriza por la búsqueda de sonoridades etéreas y de ambientes sonoros fascinantes. La labor de este coro sueco es bien conocida por todos los amantes de la música coral, y Peter Dijkstra es uno de los grandes cantores y directores de la zona belga-holandesa. Un acierto asegurado.

Josquin Desprez (c.1440-1521).

De profundis. Motets.

Weser-Renaissance - Manfred Cordes. 

cpo.

   Aunque salido a finales de agosto, traigo ahora este disco por su alto interés. Motetes del gran Josquin, interpretados por uno de los cojuntos con mayor tradición en la interpretación de polifonía renacentista en Europa, a pesar de que su fama todavía no se puede comparar con la de los grandes conjuntos que transitan también por estos repertorios y que nos vienen a todos a la cabeza. Aún así, la calidad de este conjunto es contrastada y con este repetorio suelen ser una garantia de disfrute.

Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1756).

La Dirindina. Sinfonias & Sonatas.

L'Arte dell'Arco - Federico Guglielmo.

cpo.

   Siempre es bueno cuando se resctan piezas poco transitadas y mejor aún si se trata de obras inéditas. Si además se trata de un compositor cuya fama es generada apenas por una serie de obras concretas, el regocijo debe ser aún mucho mayor. El caso de Scarlatti hijo es este, pues su fama se debe casi en exclusiva a sus 555 sonatas para clave, por lo que cuando se graban piezas vocales y orquestales siempre me alegro tremendamente. La Dirindina es un intermezzo vocal de carácter cómico, una farsetta que versa sobre la relación de una supuesta diva de la ópera y su maestro. Se cuenta con el concurso de tres cantantes, de los cuales al menos dos sonorán al melómanos más avezado. Se completa el disco con algunas sinfonías orquestales y sonatas camerísticas que hacen aún de mayor interés este registro.

Georg Phillip Telemann (1681-1767).

Wind Concertos, Vol. 8.

Camerata Köln & La Stagione Frankfurt - Michael Schnerider.

cpo.

    Estos conjutos alemanes continúan con la integral de los conciertos para instrumentos de viento de Telemann, el compositor más prolífico de la historia, lo que hace que esta empresa, a pesar de tratarse solo de un repertorio muy específico dentro del inmenso corpus compositivo del mismo, suponga todo un hito. La calidad de los intérpretes está sobradamente demostrada, tanto en otros repertorios, como en los siete anteriores volúmenes de esta integral. A tiro fijo.

Domenico Sarri (1679-1744).

Dixit Dominus. Missa.

Sächsisches Vocalensemble & Batzdorfer Hofkapelle - Matthias Jung.

cpo.

   Domenico Sarri (o Sarro) es uno de esos compositores napolitanos muy poco conocidos, de los que ayudó a desarrollar y catapultar la ópera barroca en Napoli a las cotas más altas. Aquí se nos trae una muestra de su producción sacra, en la que se denota su estilo marcadamente napolitano. La interpretación, sin parecer excesivamente maravillosa, hace buena justicia a esta música, que solo por su carácter ignoto, ya hace que merezca la pena todo el disco.

¡Disfruten!

The Choir Project al día [01-IX-2012]

Jacob Regnart (c.1540-1599): Quare tristis es, anima mea? a 4

Cinquecento (Reniassance Vokal).

Franco-flemish master around Europe.

   Stephen Rice, musicologist and conductor of The Brabant Ensemble, says about Regnart and his music:

"In contrast to the dearth of information we have about many of even the best-known Renaissance composers, the life and activities of Jacob Regnart are comparatively well documented. The reason for this is his long and almost continuous employment in the service of the Imperial Habsburg family, the running of whose chapel establishments was meticulously noted. Regnart was also the composer of several popular collections of German songs in three parts, and the wide dissemination of his music also contributes to our knowledge of his life and works.

It is not uncommon in early modern Europe for more than one family member to join the same trade or profession: among composers one thinks of the brothers Arnold and Hugo de Lantins in the early fifteenth century, and Antoine and Robert Févin around 1500. Jacob Regnart is unusual, however, in being one of no fewer than five brothers who were all ecclesiastical musicians. Two, Charles and Pascasius, were employed by the Spanish Habsburg king, Philip II; Augustin was a canon at Lille; and the best-known other than Jacob was François, who worked at Tournai and later for the Austrian Habsburgs, and by whom numerous motets and chansons survive. Augustin published a motet collection by his brothers, to which François contributed twenty-four pieces, and Jacob ten.

   The relative ages of the brothers are not known; Jacob seems likely to have been born in the early 1540s. He entered Habsburg service as early as 1557, presumably as a boy chorister, though by 1564 he was being paid the standard salary for an adult singer. Apart from a spell studying in Italy in the late 1560s, Regnart remained in Habsburg service until his death on 16 October 1599; during that time he worked under the emperors Maximilian II and Rudolf II and the Archduke Ferdinand, in Vienna, Prague and Innsbruck. His publications of secular music appeared at regular intervals from the 1570s onwards, often achieving several reprints. His sacred music also was published in quantity, though some publications are lost and other works survive only in manuscript. Perhaps the most important of Regnart’s publications (in his own eyes, at least) was the series of three books of Mass settings published in 1602/3. Although these emerged posthumously, Regnart himself left an extended dedicatory preface to the emperor Rudolf II in the first volume, so it would appear that he was working on this ‘complete edition’ before his death. In it he describes himself as having served ‘for many years as Vice-Master of the [Imperial] choir’.

   Regnart’s style is not dissimilar to that of his slightly older compatriot, Orlandus Lassus. Regnart and Lassus, indeed, shared numerous biographical details, both having worked as expatriate singers from a young age (Lassus in Naples), both remaining for long periods in the service of one family (Lassus at the Dukes of Bavaria in Munich), and both achieving wide recognition through their publications. The two composers were known to one another, moreover: Lassus recommended Regnart to the Saxon royal court in 1580, though Regnart did not move to Dresden. No contemporary composer matched Lassus’s output of works in different genres, though with his German songs, Italian-style villanelle, and sacred music, Regnart came closer than most. Regnart’s music can be differentiated from that of Lassus, however, by his slightly more conservative approach, showing a greater interest in working out contrapuntal ideas, whereas Lassus was increasingly pithy and concerned with the rhetorical projection of the text.

   Perhaps the most unusual piece on this recording is the setting of Quare tristis es, anima mea? (‘Why are you cast down, O my soul?’—words from Psalm 42). The Psalm text is intended to be reassuring, but Regnart’s setting begins in a highly destabilized tonality, avoiding a full cadence for the first fifteen bars. When the piece does settle down, it nevertheless remains in an anxious Phrygian tonal area, associated with lamenting. Regnart evidently wished to emphasize the heaviness of the soul rather than the comfort of God in this case".

   In my opinion, this piece is really wonderful, especially by the use of chromaticisms and its character tremendously painful, all in a clearly Franco-Flemish style.

   This performance is awesome, precisely because it highlights the plaintive character and the use of "Musica ficta". The voices are fantastic, with fantastic tunning and sonority.

Essential disc for provide insight into the music of this, unfortunately, little known author.

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The Choir Project al día [27-VIII-2012]

Josquin Desprez (c.1450-1521): Missa L'homme armé sexti toni a 4.
The Tallis Scholars - Peter Phillips.
One of the best masses of the history.

    Peter Phillips say about Josquin, his L'homme armé masses and this mass:
"There were at least 31 Mass-settings based on the L'homme armé melody in the Renaissance period. The two by Josquin des Prés were written about half-way through the spectrum, between those of Dufay and Ockeghem on the one hand and the two each by Morales and Palestrina on the other. It is especially valuable to hear the Josquin settings together, since it is assumed that while writing the earlier of them, Super voces musicales, he conceived new compositional challenges which he confronted in Sexti toni. There is an extra merit in having a performance of Super voces musicales on disc, since I believe that, on account of its length and the tessitura of its voice parts, a concert performance of it complete would be virtually impossible.

    The earliest reliable source of the L'homme armé melody is a late 15th century manuscript in Naples, which contains six anonymous Masses based on the song. The text may be translated 'Fear the armed man; word has gone out that everyone should arm himself with a haubregon (1) of iron', which may refer to a crusade against the Turks (see Lewis Lockwood in the New Grove). This Neapolitan version of L'homme armé poses two unsolved problems: whether it was originally a monophonic song or the tenor of a lost three-voice chanson; and whether it originally had any more verses, as the refrain structure rather suggests. Apart from the composers already mentioned, there were Mass-settings founded on L'homme armé by Busnois (who was said, by Pietro Aaron in 1523, to have been the original composer of the song), Regis, Tinctoris, Obrecht, Brumel, Mouton, de Silva, Carver and several others. The series was finally closed in the 17th century by Carissimi, who crowned the tradition with a 12-voice work.

    At first hearing the two Josquin L'homme armé Masses are worlds apart. One might guess, quite simply, that Super voces musicales was a medieval composition, and Sexti toni a mature Renaissance one. In fact the manuscript evidence is that they were probably both from Josquin's so-called middle period which ended about the year 1500, though it is assumed that Super voces musicales was written first. They were both printed by Petrucci in 1502.

    Josquin's Mass Sexti toni (in the sixth mode) is so called because he has transposed the melody to make F its final (as opposed to the more normal G), giving it a major key tonality. This element of transposition is one of the features borrowed from Super voces musicales, though there, as we have seen, it was turned into a constructional principle. The idea of stating the melody in retrograde has also been transferred from the other Mass, though instead of giving the direct and retrograde forms in consecutive statements as he did before, here in the third Agnus Dei Josquin states them both at the same time. These form the lowest parts in a movement where the number of voice-parts has been increased from four to six, and the upper voices are in two paired canons at the unison. While this shows exceptional compositional virtuosity, the actual sound in this final Agnus is most unfamiliar, suggesting, if anything, the methods of such modern minimalist composers as Philip Glass.

    The remainder of the setting seems more relaxed, though in fact Josquin can be heard constantly to be trying out new speeds, new rhythms and new scorings for the L'homme armé tune, now complete, now with a few notes used as the basis for an ostinato pattern or a canon. The wide overall range of the four voice-parts brings to the writing the kind of sonority which is associated with Palestrina, and Josquin constantly used this to imaginative effect, nowhere more memorably than at Et resurrexit in the Credo. For showing all these different aspects of his extraordinary technique, this Mass must rank as one of the most accomplished productions of a composer long held to be the greatest writer of his time."

    I think this mass is one of the best of history. The "Kyrie" and "Agnus Dei" are simply incredible. Music that lifts the soul.

    For me, the performance of The Tallis Scholars is the best fort these pieces. This album is simply indispensable, a "classic" recording of Josquin music.
Pure "Tallis Scholars" sound: brilliant, perfect pitch, balance and phrasing. A real lesson in how to perform Renaissance polyphony.

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Mertens, ese bajo

   Escuchando hace unos pocos días el primer disco del volumen 16 de la integral de las cantatas bachianas, que Ton Koopman grabara en varios años, con el concurso de los sellos Erato y luego el suyo propio -Antoine Marchand- bajo el auspicio de Challenge Records, caí una vez más en la cuenta de lo unido que ha estado el bajo alemán Klaus Mertens a la figura omnipresente de BACH. Y esta unión es tan absolutamente sólida, que uno se da cuenta de que este bajo, para muchos el bajo bachiano por excelencia, que diría es el único bajo de la historia que ha interpretado todas las partes compuestas por el Kantor para esta voz, es decir, que Mertens ha cantado todas las líneas de las piezas bachianas, incluyendo la integral de las cantatas, las pasiones, oratorios, motetes, la misa en latín...

   Esto convierte a Mertens, además, en el único cantante, incluyendo cualquier tesitura, que ha logrado tan impresionante logro. Debemos recordar, porque parece lo justo, que la figura de este bajo va unida indefectiblemente a la de Ton Koopman y su conjunto barroco, con el que ha grabado prácticamente la totalidad -si no todas- de esas piezas.

   Si uno se siente ínfimo, minúsculo e insignificante ante la inmenso e infinita figura de BACH, creo que Mertens ha logrado algo que encumbra su figura y que le hace estar más cerca del que ha sido su inspiración y al que le ha dedicado toda su vida y su voz. Salve, pues, Klaus Mertens.