The Choir Project al día | 14-III-2015

Robert Wylkynson [b c. 1475/80-d 1515 or later]: Jesus autem transiens/Credo in Deum à 13.

Huelgas Ensemble | Paul Van Nevel.
Ephemeris of Renaissance composers [II] | Beginning without end.

    Andrew Wathey wrote about this composer:
«English composer. He was appointed parish clerk at Eton College in 1496, and may possibly have been a scholar there [one of probably two Wylkynsons who were Eton scholars in the early 1490s]; he was a singing clerk in 1499 and informator choristarum c1500–15, serving as Constable of Eton in 1502 and witnessing the will of the College's Purser, William Tawnton, in 1506. He may have died c1515; alternatively, he may have left the College to seek ordination. A Dominus Robert Wilkinson [d 1538] was instituted rector of Haddenham in June 1519 by the Prior and Chapter of Rochester. Nine pieces by Wilkinson were included in the Eton Choirbook [GB-WRec 178; ed. in MB, x–xii, 1956–61], of which one is incomplete, three survive only as fragments and two are lost. Seven of these appear in the main layer of the manuscript; two were added later, possibly by Wilkinson himself.

    Wilkinson's five-voice Salve regina and incomplete four-voice Gaude virgo may be among his earlier surviving works. His massive nine-voice Salve regina, based on the plainsong cantus firmus Assumpta est Maria in celum, is an important example of the large-scale sonorous style cultivated by English composers during the early 16th century. Also in this tradition is the 13-voice canon Jesu autem transiens/Credo in deum, a setting of the Apostles' Creed prefaced by a fragment of plainsong. Both works incorporate verbal canons: these may offer some insight into the composer's learning or perhaps reveal a predilection for intricate devices and puzzles, as may the elaborate depiction of the nine orders of angels in the initial letters of the nine-voice Salve in the Eton manuscript. Wilkinson's Credo was copied, c1580–1606, by John Baldwin into his commonplace book [GB-Lbl R.M.24.d.2] as a curiosity. In O virgo prudentissima Wilkinson set a poem written by Angelo Poliziano in 1493, taken perhaps from the latter's Opera omnia [Venice, 1498]. His Salve decus castitatis was included in a choirbook recorded in an inventory of books at King's College, Cambridge, in 1529.»

    John Milson wrote about this piece:
«In Robert Wylkynson’s Jesus autem transiens, the most bizarre work in the Eton Choirbook, the central tenets of Christian belief are rehearsedthrough the words of the Apostles’ Creed: ‘I believein God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven andearth’. But this is no ordinary setting of the Creed.The text is divided into twelve segments, preceded bya thirteenth line, ‘Jesus autem transiens’ [‘Jesus thenpassing through (their midst)’]. This is notated as asingle melodic line. To perform the piece, thirteenmale voices sing the music in canon: first a solo voice intones the opening segment; then asecond voice enters, while the first voice moves on tothe second segment; and so on, until thirteen voicesare in play and all thirteen segments soundsimultaneously. The net effect is a harmonious chaos;but the sound is subservient to the work’s symbolicrepresentation of Christ surrounded by his twelve apostles. Through it the medieval listenercould more vividly imagine part of the divine orderthat rested on those pillars of eternity.»

    Enjoy it this wonderful music without end in the amazing performance of Paul Van Nevel and his Huelgas Esemble, in an extraordinary mixture between English and north-continental voices.

The Choir Project al día | 21-II-2015

Matthæus Pipelare [c. 1450-c. 1515]: Memorare mater Christi à 7.
Huelgas Ensemble | Paul Van Nevel.
Ephemeris of Renaissance composers [I].

     Donal Cross wrote about:
«South Netherlandish composer. He was active in Antwerp but left there to become Master of the Choristers for the Confraternity of Our Lady at 's-Hertogenbosch, remaining there from the spring of 1498 until about 1 May 1500. His name indicates that either he or a forebear played woodwind instruments, perhaps as a town piper. In the words of Ornithoparchus, as translated by John Dowland in 1609, Pipelare was one of several composers whose works ‘flow from the very fountaine of Art’.

    Pipelare wrote in almost all the forms of his day, and his style is characterized by its wide diversity, ranging from a dense polyphony, as in the first section of the St John Credo, to a homophonic style, as in Vray dieu d'amours. He approached the style of Pierre de La Rue in the sombre melancholy of some of his works, such as parts of the Missa Mi mi, but such other compositions as the chanson Morkin ic hebbe are gay and light. Two characteristics of his style are the frequent use of syncopation and sequence.

     The Missa Floruit egregius infans Livinus is in an early style. The cantus firmus, which migrates freely from voice to voice, employs altogether 20 chants for St Livinus. All movements except the Kyrie conclude with the same musical section in triple metre to produce a final ‘refrain’ reminiscent of Faugues. The third Agnus Dei of the second Missa sine nomine is noteworthy for an altus part consisting only of the note A, which is symbolically notated. The Missa L'homme armé contains some of his most exciting writing, building up to the grandiose final Agnus Dei. The Missa Dicit Dominus is a study in the complexity of rhythmic structure: the cantus firmus appears in various mensurations conflicting with those of the other parts.

     The Missa Fors seulement, with its rich sonorities, is primarily a cantus firmus mass with the famous melody from Pipelare’s own chanson (second setting) rhythmically differentiated from the other parts. On the other hand, all the parts of the first Missa sine nomine are so permeated with the pre-existing material that it can be called an example of ‘saturation’ technique. Sequence and unpretentious singable lines characterize the Missa Johannes Christe care/Ecce puer meus; the texture of this mass is a 3 since the cantus firmus is absent much of the time. This work and the St John Credo were probably written in 1498 or 1499. Pipelare was a master of large complex structures, but that he did not need complicated organization to bring out his finest writing is nowhere more obvious than in his Missa de feria, which though simple in style contains some of his most memorable music.

      Pipelare's motets show the same diversity of style as his masses. The Salve regina and Ave Maria… virgo serena display an early style in their use of short notes in syncopated rhythms. There is a more careful declamation of the text in Memorare mater Christi (closely modelled on Josquin's Stabat mater) and the Magnificat, in which the composer allowed the voices to move within carefully considered vertical sonorities. Here, especially in the Magnificat, he looked to the future, not only in his careful treatment of dissonance but also in his sense of balance both among the voice parts and in the phrase structures.

     Among his Flemish chansons, Een vrolic wesen seems intended as a solo with instrumental accompaniment, as was an earlier setting by Barbireau. Of the three or possibly four French chansons, there are two settings of Fors seulement, one version based on Ockeghem's famous chanson and a second on a new tenor melody. The second version was extremely popular, to judge both by the many manuscripts and prints that contain it and by the many compositions that in turn were based on it.»

     Nobody like Huelgas Ensemble | Paul Van Nevel to perform this complexity and depth put in music. Is really wonderful. The sonority is precisely the necessary, no less no more; incredible balance, wonderful pitch and impressive declamation of the text. Absolutely thrilling. Marvellous music in a perfect perform.

The Choir Project al día | 03-I-2015

Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck [Deventer, ?May 1562-Amsterdam, 16 Oct 1621]: Ab oriente venerunt Magi a 5.
Huelgas Ensemble | Paul Van Nevel.
Music for Epiphany.

     Randall H. Tollefsen and Pieter Dirksen wrote aboyt Sweelinck:
«I. Life.

    Sweelinck was the elder son of Peter Swybbertszoon and his wife Elske Sweeling. Swybbertszoon, Sweelinck and Sweelinck’s son Dirck were successively organists of the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, almost uninterruptedly from about 1564 to 1652, and Sweelinck’s paternal grandfather and uncle were also organists. For as yet unknown reasons Sweelinck adopted the family name of his mother, first using it on the title-page of his Chansons of 1594. From his early youth until his death he lived in Amsterdam. He never left the Low Countries and was never away from Amsterdam for longer than a few days at a time (except perhaps for a stay in Haarlem for study); the oft-repeated tale of his study in Venice with Zarlino, first related by Mattheson in 1740, is without foundation. His early general education was in the hands of Jacob Buyck, pastor at the Oude Kerk, and came to an end with the Reformation of Amsterdam in 1578. Besides his father, who probably gave him his first music lessons but who died when he was 11, his only known music teacher was Jan Willemszoon Lossy, a countertenor and shawm player at Haarlem, of whom little is known. Lossy was not an organist but may have taught Sweelinck composition. Cornelis Boskoop, briefly his father’s successor at the Oude Kerk in 1573, may have been among his organ teachers, and if Sweelinck indeed studied at Haarlem he would certainly have heard, and may have studied with, the organists Claas Albrechtszoon van Wieringen (active 1529–75) or the well-known Floris van Adrichem (organist 1575–8), both of whom improvised daily in the Bavokerk there.

     Cornelis Plemp, a pupil and friend of Sweelinck, stated that his master was an organist for a period of 44 years. If this is true he would have started in 1577 at the age of 15. His tenure of the position at the Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, can, however, be traced only from 1580, although it may have begun earlier, as the church records from 1577 to 1580 are lacking. His initial salary of 100 florins was doubled in 1586 (the year after his widowed mother died, when he took upon himself the care of his younger brother and sister). In 1590 his salary was raised to 300 florins, with the provision that, should he marry, it would be raised by another 100 or he could live rent-free; later that year he married and chose the latter. His last rise, to 360 florins, came in 1607; he still lived rent-free. Contrary to tradition, he was not engaged as both organist and carillonneur (the latter post was entrusted to the organ builder Artus Gheerdinck). Nor did his duties include the supplying of music for the regular ceremonial and social occasions of the city magistrate, as was the case in many other cities at that time, although he did provide this music on a few special occasions. This seemingly conscious restriction of his duties has been seen as an attempt by him to keep enough free time for his extensive work as a teacher, for which he became celebrated (see §2 below). But one must not underestimate the demands of his post. Since the Calvinists saw the organ as a worldly instrument and forbade its use during services, Sweelinck was actually a civil servant employed by the city of Amsterdam (which in any case owned the organs). His contract does not survive, but, on the evidence of various second-hand reports and contracts of organists in other important Dutch cities of the period, it is generally assumed that his duties were to provide music twice daily in the church – an hour in the morning and in the evening. When there was a service this musical hour came before and/or after it. Sweelinck was known for his organ and harpsichord improvisations: more than once the proud city authorities brought important visitors to the church to hear the ‘Orpheus of Amsterdam’. The instruments at his disposal in the Oude Kerk were a large organ with three manuals and pedal built originally by Hendrik Niehoff in 1539–45, and a small one with two manuals and pedal built in 1544–5 by Niehoff and Jasper Johanszoon (they are described by C.H. Edskes in Curtis, 1969; see also J. van Biezen, 1995).

    Sweelinck led an uneventful, well-regulated life. His few documented absences from Amsterdam (except for his marriage) were entirely in conjunction with his professional activities. He inspected new organs at Haarlem (1594, with Philip Janszoon van Velsen and Willem Aertszoon), Middelburg (1603), Nijmegen (1605, with Van Velsen) and Dordrecht (1614, with H.J. Speuy) and the restored or repaired organs at Harderwijk (1608) – where he also wrote a canon for the mayor – Delft (1610), Dordrecht (1614), Deventer (1616) – his birthplace, which he had also visited in 1595, perhaps to give advice about the forthcoming restoration of the organ – Haarlem (1620) and Enkhuizen (1621). In 1610 he was at Rotterdam to act as adviser for planned improvements to the organ in the Laurenskerk, and he played the organ at Rhenen in 1616 during an informal visit with the organ builder Kiespenninck, who had restored the instrument five years earlier. His longest journey was in 1604 to Antwerp, where he purchased a harpsichord (possibly by Ruckers) for the city of Amsterdam.

Sweelinck was buried in the Oude Kerk. He was survived by his wife and five of his six children, of whom only the eldest, Dirck Janszoon Sweelinck, was a musician. John Bull, who was probably a personal friend, wrote a fantasia on one of his themes shortly after his death (see MB, xiv, 1960, rev. 2/1971, p.12). There are two portraits of him. One, a painting of 1606 (in NL-DHgm), is attributed to his brother Gerrit Pietersz, a talented painter and the teacher of Pieter Lastman, who in turn taught Rembrandt. The other is an engraving made in 1624 (see fig.1); its model is lost.

II. Sweelinck as teacher.

    Sweelinck’s gifts as a teacher, for which he was famous throughout northern Europe, are an essential part of his importance for music history, for the founders of the so-called north German organ school of the 17th century (culminating in Bach) were among his pupils. His local pupils included talented dilettantes as well as a number of young professional musicians. The most important of the latter were Cornelis Janszoon Helmbreecker and his own son Dirck; others were Pieter Alewijnszoon de Vois, Jan Pieterszoon van Reynsburch, Willem Janszoon Lossy (son of his Haarlem teacher) and Claude Bernardt. After the turn of the century his reputation attracted pupils from Germany. These included Andreas Düben, Samuel and Gottfried Scheidt, Melchior Schildt and Paul Siefert, as well as Ulrich Cernitz, Jacob Praetorius (ii), Johannes Praetorius and Heinrich Scheidemann, who later held the four principal organists’ posts at Hamburg – hence the description of Sweelinck as ‘hamburgischen Organistenmacher’ (see Mattheson). The pupils of ‘Master Jan Pieterszoon of Amsterdam’ were seen as musicians against whom other organists were measured, and it was for this reason that talented young men were sent to study with him at the expense of their city councils. The costs included room and board at his house, as well as instruction, and may have totalled 200 florins a year per student. A notable by-product of Sweelinck’s pedagogical activities is his translation and adaptation of large sections from the third part of Zarlina’s Le istitutioni harmoniche (3/1573), which was preserved in a German version through the work of his Hamburg pupils.

III. Works: introduction.

     As well as being one of the most famous organists and teachers of his time, Sweelinck was the last and most important composer of the musically rich golden era of the Netherlanders. Research into this period as a whole has brought his music and influence into better focus. He is no longer seen as the lone north European giant of his time but rather as a gifted craftsman and musician who was the equal of his European contemporaries. His influence, however, cannot be said to have extended beyond about 1650, whereas that of Frescobaldi, for instance, lasted until the end of the century. His keyboard music is now seen to be less the work of an innovator than of one who perfected forms derived from, among others, the English virginalists and transmitted them through his pupils to north Germany. His immediate influence can be seen in the music of Samuel Scheidt and Anthoni van Noordt. His surviving output amounts to 254 vocal works, including 33 chansons, 19 madrigals, 39 motets and 153 psalms (three existing in two versions), as well as about 70 keyboard works, principally in the form of fantasias, echo fantasias, toccatas and variations. Only four pieces, all canons, are known in autograph sources. All his vocal works were printed, and one can assume that he himself corrected most of the proofs. On the other hand, none of his keyboard works was published during his lifetime; however, manuscript sources are surprisingly numerous and transmit mostly reliable texts.

IV. Vocal works.

      In none of Sweelinck’s vocal works, which predominate in his output, is there a setting of a text in his native language – they are for the most part in French – and none of those on sacred texts was written for performance during public worship services. Most are for five voices. Although the performance of one or more vocal parts by instruments is suggested only on the title-page of the Chansons, this is not to say that the rest of his vocal music is to be sung a cappella: one or more voices of the Rimes, for instance, lend themselves well to instrumental performance.

     Sweelinck’s first publications were of chansons: the collection of 1594 (the year 1584 after the dedication is a typographical error) contains 18 five-part chansons, to which were added four by Cornelis Verdonck. There may have been two further collections (1592–3). Sweelinck published 12 chansons and 15 madrigals in Rimes françoises et italiennes (1612). They have an elegance and transparency – inherent in two- and three-part writing – not found in the earlier chansons, and they often include long canonic sections. At least five of the madrigals are modelled on works by Domenico Maria Ferrabosco, Andrea Gabrieli, Macque and Marenzio.

    Sweelinck’s polyphonic setting of the Psalter has been justifiably called a monument of Netherlandish music unequalled in the sphere of sacred polyphony. From the outset he intended to set the entire Psalter, and the publication of his music for it spanned the whole of his creative life: his first two psalm settings appeared anonymously in a collection of 1597, his first book of psalms was published in 1604 (fig.2), and the fourth and final book appeared shortly after his death. The texts are from the French metrical Psalter of Marot and Bèze, not the Dutch version of Datheen (1566) used in most Dutch churches until 1773. This was probably because the psalms were not intended for use in public Calvinist services but rather within a circle of well-to-do musical amateurs among whom French was the preferred language. This supposition is strengthened by the dedications of the first and second books respectively to the burgomasters and aldermen of Amsterdam and to a number of Calvinist merchants of the city, the latter probably being members of the ‘compagnie des nourissons, disciples, fauteurs et amateurs de la douce et saincte musique’ of which Sweelinck was the leader. In style and technique the psalms follow in the tradition of Clemens non Papa, Goudimel and their Venetian contemporaries. Homophony appears alongside strict counterpoint, with imitation in all voices; both the strict motet and madrigal style and the lighter chanson and villanella style can be found. Although Sweelinck explored all harmonic possibilities, chromaticism appears only sporadically. The cantus firmi – the melodies of the Genevan Psalter – provide the unifying element in each psalm. Most of the settings fall into one of three general categories: the ‘cantus firmus psalm’, where each line of the melody (in superius and/or tenor), separated by related interludes, is accompanied by a rhythmically altered form of the melody in the other voices; the ‘lied psalm’, where the uninterrupted melody appears in the superius; and the ‘echo psalm’, where the full cantus firmus is found in two separate voices, often in canon.

     Sweelinck’s other important vocal collection, the Cantiones sacrae (1619), is the musical and religious antithesis of the psalms. It comprises 37 motets on texts from the Catholic liturgy and is dedicated to his young Catholic friend and pupil Cornelis Plemp; it thus raises the question as to whether Sweelinck remained a Catholic in the service of the ruling Calvinist minority. These motets show that in his compositional technique he kept abreast of the music of his time. The lack of a cantus firmus tends to make them more compact, but at the same time they have lost the transparency and vitality of the psalms. Several modern techniques are used: for example, there is more chromaticism, and the counterpoint is more harmonic and ornamental; but the basso continuo is more accurately termed a basso seguente (this is the only time that Sweelinck called for a separate instrumental part in a vocal collection). 14 of the motets have codas on the word ‘Alleluia’, some of them quite extended.»

      This is the new album by Huelgas Ensemble | Paul Van Nevel, called «Mirabile Mysterium» and published by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. It's a wonderful compilation of Christmas pieces.
As usual, the performance of Huelgas is really amazing: beauty, impressive sonority and very expressive.
An essential album, perfect as a gift at this time.

The Choir Project al día | 13-XII-2014

João Lourenço Rebelo [Caminha, 1610-Quinta de Santo Amaro, nr Lisbon, 16 Nov 1661]: Lamentatio Ieremiæ Prophetæ à 8 | Psalmi tum vesperarum, tum completarum, item Magnificat, Lamentationes, et Miserere, 4-15vv [Roma, 1657].
Huelgas Ensemble | Paul Van Nevel.
Salve Portuguese music.

     Manuel Carlos de Brito worte about Rebelo:
«In 1624 he became a boy servant in the capela of the Duke of Bragança at Vila Viçosa, where his brother Padre Marcos Soares Pereira was employed as a singer (and from 1641 as mestre de capela). Rebelo probably studied with the mestre de capela Roberto Tornar at the Colégio dos Santos Reis Magos adjoining the chapel. Tornar also taught music to the young duke and future King João IV and, despite the fact that he was six years his junior, Rebelo became a good friend of the duke and apparently helped in developing his musical inclinations. In 1640 he and his brother Marcos accompanied the new king to Lisbon. He seems to have suffered from a mental disorder for which he was treated by order of the king, and in 1646 he was made a Commander of the Order of Christ and granted several other benefits. João IV dedicated his essay Defensa de la musica moderna contra la errada opinion del obispo Cyrilo Franco (?Lisbon, ?1650) to his lifelong friend, lavishing praise on his works and confessing that he had been helped in his endeavours by Rebelo’s achievements. Two days before his death in 1656, João IV made provision in his will for a collection of Rebelo’s sacred works to be published, stating that the composer should leave a dozen copies in the Royal Library and have the rest distributed in Spain, Italy and other places. The printed edition, in 17 partbooks, was published in Rome the following year; most of the compositions bear dates between 1636 and 1653. The library of João IV, destroyed in the Lisbon earthquake of 1755, contained several other vocal works by Rebelo, including 17 villancicos. In its massive polychoral effects, instrumental writing and vocal ornamentation, Rebelo’s music represents an early Baroque tradition obviously influenced by the privileged access he must have had to João IV’s rich music library and by the freedom inherent in his condition of amateur composer, in contrast to the more conservative and austere traditions dominant in Portuguese cathedral music of his time. In 1652 Rebelo married the daughter of a judge by whom he had three children. His portrait is in the ducal palace of Vila Viçosa and two lines of music identified with his initials are painted on the ceiling of one of the music rooms there.»

     Ivan Moody said:
«In Portugal there was no sudden explosion of Monteverdian secunda prattica; on the contrary, the ideals of Palestrinian polyphony remained of the highest importance to Portuguese composers for a variety of reasons. One of these was the subjection of Portugal to Spanish rule from 1581 to 1640, which meant that the cultivation of liturgical polyphony was one of the clearest ways of keeping alive the country’s cultural identity. It should not be thought, however, that Portugal was completely isolated from artistic currents from else where in Europe: a glance at the catalogue of the library of King John IV, whose contents were lost in the earthquake of 1755, reveals the presence of printed works by Monteverdi, the Gabrielis, Grandi and Ugolini.

     Polychoral techniques were known toas great a master of traditional contrapuntal style as Duarte Lobo (his Opuscula of 1602 contain works for asmany as eleven voices, though a modernedition has yet to appear); and João Lourenço Rebelo, who worked for the Bragança family from the age of fourteen, had immediate access to the great library, which had been founded by Theodosius II and continued by his son who became King John IV with the restoration of independence. Rebelo had available to him in the Royal Chapel twenty-four excellent singers and a group of instrumentalists, including players of the organ, viols, shawms, sackbuts, trumpets, cornets and curtals. It would seem that wind instruments were of particular importance in the execution of Psalms; in Rebelo’s settings, though the instruments are not specified in detail, there are obbligato parts labeled vox instrumentalis. Rebelo is the first Portuguese composer to take the lessons of the polychoral works of the Gabrielis and others on board so fully; the works printed in his Psalmi, tum Vesperarum tum Completarum, Item Magnificat, Lamentationes et Miserere... (Rome 1657, published at the behest of the King himself) shows this beyond a doubt. The Psalms and other settings for Vespers and Compline show an amazing diversity of scoring, and an experimental approach to sonority. His instrumental parts are often very taxing, and questions of balance between instruments and voices need to be solved with great care. The thirteen-part Magnificat is possibly the most magnificent of these works, mixing as it does choirs of singers, solo singers, and voices and instruments. It has an abstract architectural quality, however, in common with many of the Psalm settings, which is quite foreign to Gabrieli’s style. Rebelo takes hold of the texts and moulds them to suit his purposes, sometimes repeating endlessly (over half the duration of «Super aspidem», for example, is taken up by the repetition of the words ‘et conculcabis leonem et draconem’), and sometimes going through the words at an astonishing pace. Rebelo’s style is wilful, then, in this sense, but the structural certainty of the music is utterly convincing. At the basis of this there may be detected something typically Portuguese: in spite of its new guise, there is still a strong flavour in this music of the old contrapuntal style of Cardoso and Magalhäes, with its arching lines and unexpected chromaticisms.That Rebelo himself was no stranger to this is made quite clear in his sumptuous seven-part motet Panis Angelicus, and that opening verse of the Magnificat also does rather more than nod in that direction. Psalm settings such as the impressive Ecce nunc betray this heritage in a rather more subtle way: the interest is clearly in combining and opposing textures and colours, but each unit of sound is built up with an attention to detail which shows the hand of a composer deeply familiar with the polyphonic style.»

     For me, the Portuguese music of the end of 16th-century and beginning of the 17th-century is really the most interesting compositing school of this moment in Europe. Pieces like this Lamentation, composed in the advanced 17th-century, are until in a clear stile antico, altought we can see in they some features of the Baroque lenguage. The mixture is unique and really impresive. The quality of this music is absolutely amazing.
Huelgas Ensemble and Paul Van Nevel performed fantastically the Portuguese music. This is an extraordinary example. The deeply in this performance is simply stunning. The perfection is really near of this.

¿Qué escuchaba...? | Crítica, para Codalario, del disco que Van Nevel y su conjunto dedican a la España del XVII

¿Qué escuchaba Zurbarán?
El director belga y su legendario conjunto ponen música a la pintura de Francisco de Zurbarán a través de un maravilloso recorrido por algunos de los maestros más interesantes del XVII español.

La oreja de Zurbarán. Música de Andrés Barea, Juan García de Salazar, Diego de Pontac, Manuel Machado, Fray José de Vaquedano, Mateo Romero, Miguel de Ambiela y anónimo. Huelgas Ensemble | Paul Van Nevel. Cypres Records, 1 CD [CYP1669], 2014. T.T.: 56:56.

     Parece que esa es la pregunta que se plantean los protagonistas de este registro a la hora de llevarlo a cabo, y la que pretenden responderse a sí mismos y a los oyentes en el álbum que aquí presentamos. Francisco de Zurbarán [1598-1664] es, como bien saben, uno de los mayores exponentes en la pintura del siglo XVII español, pero también europeo. Aprovechando que este año se celebra la efeméride del 350 aniversario de su fallecimiento, el Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles [Bozar] –un centro cultural de enorme calado en Bélgica– programó una exposición, entre el 29 de enero y el 25 de mayo, dedicada al maestro extremeño en la que se presentaron algunas de sus obras fundamentales. En el marco de la misma se concibe este registro discográfico, que intenta poner sonidos a su obra pictórica. La intención no es otra que presentar algunas de las obras que el maestro Zurbarán pudo haber escuchado en el desarrollo de su carrera entre Sevilla y Madrid. Para tal empresa se graban aquí ocho piezas de ocho maestros diferentes, una miscelánea de música sacra y profana –tanto en latín como en lengua vernácula– que muestra una breve pero fascinante panorámica de la producción vocal que se estaba produciendo en España durante todo el siglo XVII, contando con el enorme interés de que algunas de ellas son primeras grabaciones mundiales. 

     Encontramos piezas de marcado contraste: por un lado piezas en un evidente stile antico, el que todavía pervivía en la Península Ibérica, por otro, obras en las que la influencia de la seconda prattica italiana que va posando en la producción músical hispánica se deja ver con claridad. Así encontramos piezas sacras en latín, compuestas todas por compositores que ejercieron su magisterio de capilla en algunas catedrales españolas, en las que encontramos escritura contrapuntística, pero con una carga muy fuerte del recurso de la homofonía. El primero en aparecer en Andrés Barea [c. 1610-1689], que fue maestro de capilla en Burgo de Osma, Salamanca, Valladolid y Palencia, y del que se graba su exquisito Miserere mei Deus a 8 in alternatim, en el que utiliza la técnica italiana del doble coro spezzati –esto es, separado uno de otro–, consiguiendo una sonoridad de hondura notable y en la que utiliza sutiles disonancias, especialmente en las cadencias. 

     Lauda Sion salvatorem a 4, de Juan García de Salazar [1639-1710] –quien fuera maestro de capilla en Toro, Burgo de Osma y Zamora–, nos presenta una escritura más arcaica, que parece buscar ese estado de éxtasis –como apunta Van Nevel en las notas críticas– a través de una recurrencia armónica y melódica evidente. 

     Diego de Pontac [1603-1654], compositor zaragozano, maestro de capilla en el Hospital Real de Zaragoza, en la Iglesia Mayor de Granada, Santiago de Compostela, La Seo zaragozana y posteriormente en la Real Capilla madrileña, supone un fantástico ejemplo de la influencia que otras escuelas compositivas tuvieron en la producción musical de la España del XVII. En su Agnus Dei «In exitu Israel» a 4 nos muestra un estilo cercano al franco-flamenco, con gran manejo del contrapunto imitativo. Una pequeña gran joya. 

     Las Lamentaciones a 8 de Fray José de Vaquedano [1642-1711] –maestro de capilla en el Convento de la Encarnación madrileño y finalmente en Santiago de Compostela–, son un ejemplo evidente de que avanzado tanto el XVII en España todavía se componía con un marcado arcaísmo. Música contrapuntística de dificultad técnica notable y una escritura ampliamente melismática sobre todo en las letras hebraicas. Uno de los tesoros mejor guardados en el presente registro. 

     Del mismo modo destaca la brillantez del Stabat mater a 1 y 4, compuesto por el también zaragozano Miguel de Ambiela [1666-1733], quien ejerció su magisterio de capilla en diversas instituciones: Colegiata de Daroca, Lleida, Jaca, El Pilar de Zaragoza, las Descalzas Reales de Madrid y Toledo –probablemente fue el último maestro de capilla de su catedral–. Utilizando la partitura presente en el Ms. 25, f. 83v.-84r. de la Biblioteca Capitular de Toledo –de enorme belleza, por cierto–, se nos presenta esta pieza construida de manera clara sobre un cantus firmus, que muestra cierto arcaísmo, pero con algunos avances armónicos de sumo interés. 

     Tres son las piezas profanas con texto en lengua vernácula grabadas aquí. Primeramente el anónimo Río de Sevilla, una canción con estribillo a 3, datada en el siglo XVI, en cuya simplicidad melódica y curioso texto encontramos su mayor encanto. Del Cancionero de la Sablonara [1624/1625] nos llegan las otras dos piezas: Dos estrellas le seguen, un delicado y hermoso romance 4, compuesto por el compositor portugués Manuel Machado [c. 1590-1646] –que desarrolló su carrera en la Capilla Real de Madrid–, que Van Nevel arregla aquí con variabilidad en la introducción de las diversas líneas –esto es, primero solo dos partes, luego tres y posteriormente las cuatro–, intentando ofrecer una mayor variedad sonora en el resultado final –incluso llega a introducir un pasaje con boca cerrada que no existe, obviamente, en el manuscrito original–; y el villancico a 4, Fatigada navecilla, de Mateo Romero [c. 1575-1647] –compositor flamenco, conocido por el sobrenombre de «Maestro Capitán», que desarrolló su carrera en Madrid–, maravillosa y contrastada pieza, con una escritura calmada para un texto realmente agitado.

     Uno podría pensar el porqué de la elección de un conjunto belga para llevar a cabo la grabación de piezas de autores españoles. En primer lugar hay que destacar que tanto la entidad de la que sale la idea de organizar la exposición en torno a la que gira la grabación, como la discográfica involucrada son belgas, por lo que en cierta manera ese «barrer para casa» es comprensible. En segundo lugar, si hay que elegir a un conjunto vocal para interpretar piezas de este tipo, una de las primeras opciones que le vienen a uno a la mente es precisamente la del Huelgas Ensemble. Y en tercer lugar –y lo siento por los conjuntos españoles–, pero no hay en este país un conjunto capaz de acceder a estas piezas e interpretarlas con el nivel de excelencia del Huelgas. Al menos no hasta el momento. Contando con el concurso de 11 cantores –de los habituales del ensemble–, estamos ante interpretaciones sencillamente fabulosas. Se nos antoja necesario plasmar aquí sus nombres: Axelle Bernage, Magdalene Harer, Poline Renou y Katelijne Van Laethem [superius]; Achim Schulz, Stefan Berghammer, Timothy Leigh Evans, Tom Phillips y Matthew Vine [tenor]; Tim Scott Whiteley y Guillaume Olry [bassus]. El equilibrio, calidad vocal, comprensión del repertorio y especialmente el poder expresivo del conjunto belga son de lo mejor en el panorama mundial. Pocos conjuntos consiguen un sonido tan complejo y rico en sonoridad, así como una interpretación tan pulida. Cuando uno escucha al Huelgas tiene la sensación de que su sonido es como una ola que llega y te golpea la cara con contundencia, pero sin dejar tras de sí una sensación de incomodidad o angustia. En nuestra opinión no es posible pensar en intérpretes mejores, al menos para unas obras de este tipo. Debemos destacar, además, el notable esfuerzo y el buen resultado en la dicción de las piezas en español

     A la cabeza está Paul Van Nevel, sin duda uno de los máximos exponentes en el ámbito de la música vocal de los siglos XV y XVI en el mundo. Aquí, aunque se desliza temporalmente a un siglo que aparentemente le puede quedar más lejano, el arcaísmo general de las piezas y el carácter expresivo y profundo de las piezas hace que se mueva como pez en el agua. Si algo consigue siempre Van Nevel es aportar una homogeneidad de sonido absolutamente envidiable. Nadie sabe, como él, conjugar en una línea de tenores cantores ingleses y centroeuropeos con un resultado tan brillante, exponer a las sopranos a una línea de canto en extremo delicada con un empaste tan escrupuloso, o conseguir de las voces graves una omnipresencia basada más en la elegancia canora que en la potencia. Quizá algo más aficionado a hacer ciertos arreglos de lo que fuera deseable –especialmente en las obras profanas–, su capacidad para conmover y extraer de cada cantor lo mejor de sí sigue siendo todo un ejemplo para cualquiera que se dedica, de una u otra manera, a este ámbito. Uno aprende muchísimo cuando escucha una grabación de Van Nevel, y ese es, seguramente, su mejor legado.

     El disco presenta una sencillo pero elegante diseño –llevado a cabo por mpointproduction–, en el que nos viene a los ojos varias reproducciones de cuadros de Zurbarán –además del hermoso manuscrito toledano–, que se acompañan de unas interesantísimas notas escritas por el propio Van Nevel –para lo musical– y Jérôme Giersé –para lo pictórico–. La toma de sonido resulta en ocasiones un tanto artificial y poco lograda, lo cual no extraña poderosamente, sobre todo estando detrás una compañía de la solvencia contrastada de Tritonus. Pequeños detalles que evitan que el disco logre la perfección, pero que en cualquier caso sitúan al disco como uno de los mejores del año. Un auténtico regalo auditivo y musicológico, y una apuesta maravillosa por el riquísimo y fascinante patrimonio musical hispánico del XVII, que tanta falta hace aún a estas alturas. Una conjunción maravillosa, tanto de música e intérpretes, como de idea y puesta a punto, que Cypres Records ha sabido recoger para crear un objeto cultural de primer orden.

Publicado en Codalario el 25-XI-2014.