Legend has it that
Palestrina was hauled before the Council
of Trent to present a work that would
prove the viability of polyphony as
a compositional method suitable to divine
service. The Council was so impressed
with his Pope Marcellus Mass that he
saved contrapuntal writing from eternal
damnation. Well, it did not quite happen
that way, but Palestrina (who took the
name of his birthplace as his surname)
did have a hand in convincing the august
Council that a move back to plainchant
only in the mass was not necessary.
Through his simple
and direct style, careful preparation
and resolution of dissonance and expert
manner of setting texts so as to be
understandable, Palestrina’s music has
become the textbook model for Renaissance
polyphony. He composed more than one
hundred mass settings and countless
motets in a career that was dedicated
almost exclusively to the church. Not
known as a fine singer himself, he became
famous for his compositions, although
he never achieved the financial status
of his British colleague William Byrd,
who, along with Thomas Tallis held exclusive
rights to publish music in all of England
for most of his creative life.
This publishing monopoly
has made it somewhat difficult to establish
the authenticity of some of Byrd’s work
since, having sole rights to publish,
he seldom bothered to put his name on
the title page, if there was such a
page at all. For many years the choirmaster
of Lincoln cathedral, Byrd walked a
fine and careful line as he was a Catholic
servant to the very Protestant British
crown. Known as much for his secular
output, Byrd is credited with founding
the English madrigal school, which culminated
in the likes of Dowland, Morley, Weelkes
and Wilbye.
This disc is a bit
of a mystery, having been completed
over a decade ago, and containing recordings
that are as much as twenty years old.
The rather plain cover art with its
somewhat difficult to read fonts and
layout comes off as rather amateurish
on first glance, and I frankly was not
expecting much.
What a pleasant surprise
it was to find a recording of some of
the great Renaissance masterworks performed
with such warmth and attention to detail.
The Hägersten Motet Choir is fine
indeed, with a warm rich tone and fine
blend. What is utterly remarkable about
this group is the phenomenal sound of
the men. I have not heard such perfectly
matched singing from the male sections
of a choir in years. The women are fine
too, but one hears the occasional individual
voice in their singing. The tenors and
basses on the other hand sing with a
unity of tone and peerless sense of
ensemble. When they sing an entrance
alone, it is simply breathtaking.
Ingemar Månsson
founded this choir in 1959 and has been
its leader since. He knows how to sculpt
a phrase, and his careful choices of
tempo and articulation accomplish quite
splendidly the very difficult task of
making an out of context mass performance
interesting. Another nice plus is his
choice of performing the complete text
to Sicut cervus a work that is
really overdone in spite of its perfection,
and is often stopped after the prima
pars.
Mr. Byrd’s work fares
equally well. A most impressive feature
of this disc is the consistency with
which this choir sings. These recordings
span a quarter century, and it appears
that this group has maintained its standards
throughout its years of existence.
Program notes are informative,
if not a bit amusing in their sometimes-unidiomatic
English translations and rather frequent
misspelled or just plain made-up words.
I found this to be a bit surprising
given the fluency with which most Swedes
speak English. A small quibble though.
This is a very fine
release, and all lovers of fine choral
singing should enjoy it, although I
am guessing it might be a bit hard to
come by outside of Sweden. Perhaps our
editorial staff will be able to link
readers to a purchase source.
Highly recommended.
Kevin Sutton
Hägersten Motet Choir/Ingemar Månsson
