Orlande de LASSUS (1530/32-1594)
Laudent Deum: Sacred Music
Choir of St. John's College, Cambridge
His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts/Andrew Nethsinga
rec. Chapel of St. John's College, Cambridge, 20-22 July 2010.
Full tracklist at end of review
CHANDOS CHAN0778 [71:00] 
This disc is a real treat for fans of Renaissance polyphony. Lassus could
probably be placed somewhere in the top five 16th century composers,
but in a period dominated by the monolithic choral textures of Palestrina,
the sheer variety of Lassus' works marks him out as something special. It
is difficult to pin down the logic behind the programming on this disc, but
if it is intended to demonstrate the breadth and uniformly high quality of
his work, it is an unqualified success. We have works in four parts, in six
parts, both secular and choral, and a good number of pieces performed on Renaissance
brass, where they work just as well.
Of the 24 tracks, 14 claim to be première recordings, which given that Lassus
is hardly a stranger to the CD catalogues suggests an unusually extensive
output. And the quality never falters. Jeremy Summerly makes the point in
his informative liner-notes that the performance of Lassus' music on instrumental
consorts is not only fully justified by contemporary documents, but is also
a demonstration of the rock-solid compositional technique that underpins this
music, never needing the semantics of a text or a specific liturgical function
to achieve its effect.
There is even harmonic innovation here. Listen, for example, to the opening
of Timor et timor, where the 'Fearfulness and trembling' are represented
by dark minorish modal harmonies, with startling harmonic shifts between each
syllable. Palestrina might be a little more subtle with this sort of thing,
but the sheer immediacy of Lassus' approach achieves something different and
equally startling: a balance of the transcendental and the worldly.
This sense of immediacy is all the more powerful for the Choir of St John's
College and their ability to perform this music with analytical precision,
yet without ever weighing down its soaring lines. The clarity of their pronunciation
helps to articulate the textures; there is never any sense that the consonants
have been rounded off for the sake of the melodic contours. On the contrary,
the clear and precisely differentiated consonants both structure the vocal
lines and ensure that the texts - which are also surprisingly varied - are
never subordinated to the musical texture.
The acoustic – of St. John's College Chapel – is warm but not unduly resonant.
In fact, it has a very distinctive presence in the recording, and naturally
this choir knows exactly how to make the most of it. The sound engineering
also achieves the ideal balance of choir and aura, and indeed of individual
singers and ensemble. This last is no mean feat, given the range of different
choral forces employed, from three singers right up to the full choir of about
25, and with everything in between. The instrumental contribution, from His
Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts with some unusual woodwind additions – bass
rackett for example – increase further the musical variety on offer. But when
the instruments are used to support the choir, the arrangements always ensure
that the choir dominates. That is as it should be but I'd love to have heard
a bit more bass rackett.
In general though, this is an excellent selection of music and is presented
with real musical imagination, yet never diverting from either the spirit
or letter of the composer's scores. It would be hard to argue that Lassus
has suffered undue neglect in modern times, so the chances are that if you've
an interest in 16th century choral music you'll have heard him
before. Even so, you won't have heard most of the works on this disc, which
are all up there with his finest, and which are given here in performances
that show off this fascinating and diverse composer in the best possible light.
Gavin Dixon
Showing off this fascinating and diverse composer in the best possible light.
Full tracklist
Laudent Deum
Orlando de Lassus (1530/32-1594)
premiere recording
1 Ecce nunc benedicite Dominum 2:22
His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
Timothy Ravalde organ
premiere recording
2 Veni in hortum meum 4:11
premiere recording
3 Qui sequitur me 1:26
Leo Tomita · Jonathan Langridge soloists
4 Resonet in laudibus 3:37
His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
Timothy Ravalde organ
premiere recording
5 Sine textu 15 1:47
His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
6 Omnes de Saba venient 2:38
His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
Timothy Ravalde organ
premiere recording
7 Qui moderatur sermones suos 2:03
His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
Timothy Ravalde organ
premiere recording
8 Exaudi, Deus, orationem meam 2:12
9 Jubilate Deo, omnis terra 1:37
His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
Timothy Ravalde organ
premiere recording
10 Sine textu 19 2:06
His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
11 Timor et tremor 5:15
12 Omnia tempus habent 4:02
His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
Timothy Ravalde organ
13 Alleluia, laus et gloria 1:08
premiere recording
14 Magnificat tertii toni 4:58
Basil McDonald cantor
premiere recording
15 Quid gloriaris in malitia 4:55
His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
Timothy Ravalde organ
16 Laudate pueri Dominum 3:48
His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
Timothy Ravalde organ
premiere recording
17 O Maria, clausus hortus 2:07
Leo Tomita · Bradley Smith · Tristan Hambleton soloists
18 Laetentur caeli 3:26
19 Laudent Deum cithara 0:42
His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
Timothy Ravalde organ
premiere recording
20 Sine textu 13 2:02
His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
premiere recording
21 O peccator, si filium Dei 3:29
His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
Timothy Ravalde organ
premiere recording
22 Fratres, qui gloriatur 2:32
His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
Timothy Ravalde organ
premiere recording
23 Agimus tibi gratias 1:18
Julian Gregory · Francis Williams · Pablo Strong soloists
premiere recording
24 Magnificat 'O che vezzosa aurora' 7:07
Bradley Smith cantor
Leo Tomita · Pablo Strong · Tristan Hambleton soloists
His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts
Timothy Ravalde organ