The Golden Renaissance
JOSQUIN Des Prez (c.1450/55-1521)
Salve Regina a5 [7:34]
Pange, lingua, gloriosa - plainchant [0:51]
Missa Pange Lingua : Kyrie [3:21]
Ave Maria, Virgo Serena [5:56]
Missa Pange Lingua : Gloria [5:10]
Inviolata, integra, et casta es [7:32]
Missa Pange Lingua : Credo [8:33]
Vivrai je tousjours [3:09]
El Grillo [1:41]
Missa Pange Lingua : Sanctus – Benedictus [9:45]
Virgo salutiferi genitrix [8:10]
Missa Pange Lingua : Agnus Dei [8:34]
Hieronymus VINDERS (fl.1525-26)
O mors inevitabilis [3:23]
Jacquet de MANTUA (1483-1559)
Dum vastos Adriæ fluctus [9:19]
Stile Antico
rec. July 2020, All Hallows, Gospel Oak, London.
Texts and translations included
DECCA 4851340 [82:48]
Over the years I’ve either reviewed or bought many of Stile Antico’s recordings, admiring and enjoying what I’ve heard. I think I’m right in saying that all their previous releases were on the Harmonia Mundi label but this present disc is the first of what I believe is to be a series of three recordings for Decca. With this first release the group marks the 500th anniversary of the death of Josquin des Prez.
If, like me, you’ve come to know Josquin’s Mass settings through the ground-breaking series of recordings by The Tallis Scholars, there are some significant differences of approach between their view of this music and Stile Antico’s. In fact, Missa
Pange Lingua was one of two Masses on the first Josquin disc that The Tallis Scholars recorded; that disc was first issued in 1986
(review). I don’t intend to do a detailed comparison between the two but I will point out what seem to me to be key differences so that readers can, I hope, form their own judgement. I should make it crystal clear that in mentioning differences I am not for one minute implying that one recording is “better” than the other.
Peter Phillips used two voices to a part for his Tallis Scholars recording, whereas Stile Antico have three singers per part. At several points Phillips reduces the forces to one voice per part. Examples include the ‘Christe’ section of the Kyrie and the ‘Qui tollis’ in the Gloria. In such sections I think Stile Antico come down from three voices per part to two, though I can’t be completely sure on that point. However, they do thin the texture in these episodes, albeit not quite so obviously as do The Tallis Scholars. For his recording of this Mass Peter Phillips had two countertenors to sing the alto line whereas Stile Antico use three female singers. That, plus the slightly larger vocal forces, mean that the sound that Stile Antico produce is somewhat richer, even sensuous. In a number of places, the Peter Phillips recording is fleeter of foot than Stile Antico’s performance; that’s the reason why his performance plays for 29:25 in total whereas Stile Antico’s more expansive account takes 35:23. The differences are fascinating and I’m just glad to have two recordings of the Mass that are so excellently sung and which contrast and complement each other.
One other point of difference lies in the presentation. The Tallis Scholars sing the Mass straight through whereas Stile Antico perform other pieces by Josquin between each movement in the Mass. There are arguments for doing that, including the one that when the Mass was sung liturgically the movements would not have been heard consecutively. However, I’m not sure that the interpolation of other pieces doesn’t compromise the listener’s focus on the Mass setting and in particular I’m far from convinced by the inclusion of two secular pieces after the Credo. Of course, one can always programme the CD player and listen to the Mass continuously.
Stile Antico sing the Mass extremely well, displaying their customary poise and polish. Though they don’t have a conductor, ensemble is always spot on. The sound the ensemble makes is lovely and cultured and we hear them in a nice, naturally resonant acoustic. In the Gloria their delivery of the ‘Qui tollis’ is very lovely, though later on in the movement I must admit I prefer the greater urgency which The Tallis Scholars bring to ‘Quoniam tu solus sanctus’. In a fine performance of the Credo, Stile Antico’s singing of the ‘Et incarnatus’ section is simply rapt. They take the music slowly and then, I think, reduce the number of voices at ‘Crucifixus’ to telling effect. The Tallis Scholars are not quite as slow at ‘Et incarnatus’ but their singing is no less expressive and I admire their spirited rendition of the ‘Et in Spiritu Sancto’ music.
In the Sanctus, Josquin sets the ‘Pleni sunt caeli’ section for upper voices only. The ladies of Stile Antico offer singing that is delightfully light and airy; it sounds like angels carolling. The ‘Hosanna’, for full choir, is jubilant, as it is at the end of the Benedictus. In the Agnus Dei the Stile Antico sopranos and altos sing ‘Agnus Dei II’ with very pure tone while ‘Agnus Dei III’ which involves the full choir, flows serenely. I most certainly wouldn’t want to be without the Tallis Scholars’ recording of Missa Pange Lingua but I greatly enjoyed and learned a lot from Stile Antico’s accomplished performance.
The other Josquin items on Stile Antico’s programme are well chosen – all the motets are Marian pieces. The four-voce motet
Ave Maria, Virgo Serena is a fine piece, beautifully sung here.
Inviolata, integra, et casta es is serene and expansive and Stile Antico give it a super performance. In
Virgo salutiferi genitrix much of the musical argument is given to the tenors and basses. In this piece the often-complex lines of polyphony, whether for male voices or full choir, are expertly balanced and blended.
I’m much less sure about the two secular pieces or, rather, about their placing in the programme.
Vivrai je tousjours is a lamenting love song. I think it’s for four voices (ATBB?); it would have been nice if the notes had included this information. I think that Stile Antico sing this with fewer than three voices per part. The piece is well worth hearing, though we learn from the notes that the attribution to Josquin is questionable.
El Grillo is a jolly, lively little song about a cricket. It’s for male voices (TBB?). I have to say that I don’t think these items sit well between two movements of the Mass; it would have been better to place them last on the disc.
Two pieces by other composers complete the programme. Hieronymus Vlinders was a Franco-Flemish composer about whom little is known, though I learned from a little online research that he was at one time active in Ghent and that four masses and eight motets which he composed have survived. One of those motets is
O mors inevitabilis, a seven-voice motet which he composed as a memorial to Josquin. It’s a dignified and sincere piece. I hadn’t heard it before and was glad to encounter it in this fine performance.
Also new to me was the music of Jacquet of Mantua. I understand that he was French-born but that he spent most of his life in Italy, where he rose to be maestro di cappella at Mantua Cathedral. It seems he was a prolific composer: twenty-three Mass settings apparently survive and he also wrote over one hundred motets.
Dum vastos Adriæ fluctus is a homage to Josquin and we learn from the booklet notes that in this piece Jacquet quoted from no less than five motets by Josquin. Appropriately, two of those motets have been included in Stile Antico’s programme:
Salve Regina and Inviolata, integra, et casta es. Jacquet’s tribute is an extended and finely crafted piece which Stile Antico sing marvellously.
In fact, the singing throughout this generously-filled album is consistently superb and fully in line with what we’ve come to expect over the years from this excellent ensemble. I remain unshaken in my admiration of The Tallis Scholars’ recording of the
Pange Lingua Mass but I’m delighted to have this contrasting alternative version from Stile Antico. The switch from Harmonia Mundi to Decca has brought no change to the first-rate quality of sound in which the group’s recordings are customarily presented. It’s no coincidence, I’m sure, that the venue, All Hallows, Gospel Oak, is one that they know well from many previous recordings, nor that the producer is Jeremy Summerly, who has produced a number of past Stile Antico discs. Engineer Dave Rowell has captured the sound of the group very sympathetically in the church’s lovely, mellow acoustic.
I’m afraid, though, that the switch of labels has impacted on the presentation of the disc. Gone is the sumptuous artwork and double-fold packaging that made the Harmonia Mundi releases so attractive. Instead, we now have much more conventional artwork and packaging. What a pity. The documentation, including a useful essay by Bonnie Blackburn, is good but the tiny font and layout meant that I struggled to read the booklet, which was never the case in the Harmonia Mundi days. Thankfully, though, the standard of music, performances and recorded sound remain as high as ever. This is a very fine 500th anniversary tribute to Josquin.
John Quinn
Previous review: Brian Wilson
