Highly impressed by everything vocal ensemble Cinquecento has
done on the Hyperion label, including their marvellous disc
of Jacob Regnart (see review),
I pounced on this title, A Requiem for Josquin with indecent
alacrity.
The association with Renaissance master Josquin Des Prez is
the legacy of a fame which meant that numerous works by his
contemporaries were falsely attributed to him, and this includes
the main work in this programme, Jean Richafort’s marvellous
Requiem. Richafort was reportedly one of Josquin’s
pupils, but this is now thought to be more like the artistic
term of ‘in the school of’ rather than his having
been an actual student. Richafort did use material by Josquin
in other works so the connection is not an idle one, but the
Missa pro defunctis is full of new compositional elements
and combinations of various genres which put the work, one of
the most extended of its type for the period, into a class of
its own. Preceded by two authentic and suitably mournful works
by Josquin, the scale of the Requiem is felt from the
outset, with broad lines and a sense of spaciousness which promises
and delivers a timeless span from which to draw meditations
of mortality.
Texts and translations are given for all of the pieces here.
Stephen Rice’s authoritative booklet notes are a valuable
resource when it comes to placing the music in its historical
context and delving further into the complexities of its creation,
but the expressive warmth and sonority of Cinquecento’s
voices, superbly recorded, are the source to which you will
want to return for more and more. Superbly unified, the dynamic
shading which brings forth leading voice lines and gently points
to significant harmonic shifts are done so naturally that the
music seems to enter your soul though some kind of osmosis rather
than something so banal as mere listening.
The programme has been imaginatively put together, framing the
Requiem with pieces by Josquin himself as a kind of reference,
the most substantial of these being the sublime Miserere
mei, Deus. Like knowledge and respect for nature, we seem
to have lost the art of being able to make such things for ourselves
these days, though such a performance makes you want to grab
some manuscript paper and try. Nicholas Gombert is a name we’ve
come across before,
and the Musae Jovis is another marvel with some stunning
harmonic twists. You can be excused for not having heard of
Jheronimus Vinders, who can apparently only be traced as being
briefly employed in Ghent from 1525-6. His seven part O mors
inevitabilis is a fittingly expansive conclusion to this
superb set of laments.
Anyone already in the know about Cinquecento will already have
their favourite chair and slippers reserved for an evening with
this CD, and a movingly inspiring time will be had by all of
these lucky people. For the yet uninitiated this is as good
a place to start, and with the juice of Josquin running through
from start to finish you can hardly go wrong. If you buy no
other music from the 16th century this year, this
will at least keep your speakers warm all winter.
Dominy Clements
Cinquecento 