Preface

Editorial Reviews
Album Description
The first in a series of ep's that is meant to pair two bands that are on different ends of the sonic spectrum. Starting it off is the majestic Monster Movie and contemplative dreamend. The cd starts with 'Beautiful Artic Star'. Appropriately titled, 'beautiful...' is a perfect pop gem. Ending too soon and making you hit the back button on your cd player far too many times, this is one of Monster Movie's best. Next is 'Nobody Sees'. Seemingly a new and different world for Monster Movie, this song grows stronger and stronger with each listen. Then a crescendo of bowed guitar begins dreamend's '...ellipsis...'. Lasting almost 12 minutes this modern-day symphony captures the listeners ear with an array of hypnotizing sounds. 5 great songs assembled in sleek custom made packaging.

Tracks:

I. Processional
II. Lord, Have Mercy
III. The Desert And The Parched Land
IV. The Peace Of Jerusalem
V. Alleluia
VI. Father, All Powerful
VII. Holy, Holy, Holy
VIII. While He Was At Supper
IX. When We Eat This Bread
X. Through Him, With Him
XI. Great Amen
XII. Our Father
XIII. Lamb Of God
XIV. All My Hope
XV. Gloria

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful choral work + great jazz.......2007-02-09

This music may throw some people for a loop, as it did me at first, because it is a choral Mass and most of us don't realize that Dave composed choral pieces, with his wife doing the lyrics. This Mass was commissioned by 'Our Sunday Visitor' many years ago. It is absolutely beautiful! The operatic choral sections move into the jazz sections and are truly inspirational. My favorite songs are 'the Desert and the Parched Land/The Peace of Jerusalem' and 'All My Hope', which I can't get out of my head all day! Give them a listen.

Lackluster Effort.......2004-05-05

I was very disappointed in this CD. This piece in no way compares with Brubeck's "Gates of Justice", which is spectacular. There are a few worthwhile moments for the soloists, but for the most part, the writing is uninspired.

A Worthy Effort.......2002-07-23

"To Hope!" is Dave Brubeck's attempt at composing a mass, or Christian liturgy. The result is mixed. Unlike Vince Guaraldi's masterpiece "Grace Cathedral Concert," this is not a jazz piano mass. Instead, it is largely a contemporary-classical work, focused on vocals and traditional arrangements. It does, however, include several jazz passages, including one that swings almost like a '50s surf-rock record. Not everyone will like this recording, but every fan of jazz or contemporary sacred music should listen to it.

A Celebration of Dave Brubecks Works.......2000-03-15

This CD truly shows the diversity of the genius composer Dave Brubeck. Also credit should to be given to Russell Gloud, the conductor for this CD. This working is one of the greatest pieces by Mr. Brubeck. I recommend this CD to any classical music or jazz fan

Chant Mozarabe - Cathedrale de Tolede (15th century) /Ensemble Organum * Peres

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early christian music
Mozarabic Chant - Emphasis on ARABIC
Byzantine Chant in Latin/Latin sung in Byzantine Chant
The Latin Mass meets the Arab Moors

Chant Mozarabe - Cathedrale de Tolede (15th century) /Ensemble Organum * Peres
Ensemble Organum
Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Ambrosian Chant
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Chant Corse: Manuscrits franciscains (17th-18th century) /Ensemble Organum * Peres
Chants de L'Eglise de Rome: Période byzantine

ASIN: B00000079Y
Release Date: 1995-06-20

Tracks:

Office Des Lectures: Invocation Sacerdotale D'intro: Per Gloriam Nominis Tui - Marcel Peres/Frederic Richard
Office Des Lectures: Officium: Alleluia, Ortus Conclusus - Jerome Casalonga
Office Des Lectures: Goria in Excelsis Deo - Jerome Casalonga
Office Des Lectures: Benedictus Es (Hymne Des Trois Enfants Dans La Fournaise) - Marcel Peres/Frederic Richard
Office Des Lectures: Psallendo: Beatus Vir (Commun D'un Pontife Martyr) - Lycourgos Angelopoulos/Malcolm Bothwell
Office Des Lectures: Evangile: Mathieu, 24, 27-35 - Marcel Peres/Frederic Richard
Office Des Lectures: Lauda: Alleluia Exultabit Justus (Commun D'un Pontife Martyr) - Jean-Pierre Lanfranchi
Office Des Lectures: Preces: Penitentes Orate (Monition Diaconale) - Marcel Peres/Frederic Richard
Office Des Lectures: Sacrificium: Vox Clamantis (Dimanche Avant La St. Jean Baptiste) - Jean-Etienne Langiani
Priere Eucharistique: Petre: Gratias Dei Patris - Marcel Peres/Frederic Richard
Priere Eucharistique: Chor: Pacem Meam Do Vobis - Jean-Pierre Lanfranchi
Priere Eucharistique: Pretre: Introibo Ad Altare Dei - Marcel Peres/Frederic Richard
Priere Eucharistique: Preface - Marcel Peres/Frederic Richard
Priere Eucharistique: Sanctus - Ens Organum/Marcel Peres
Priere Eucharistique: Ad Confractionem Panis: Qui Venit Ad Me Non Esuriet - Jerome Casalonga
Priere Eucharistique: Pretre: Humiliate Vos Ad Benedictionem! - Marcel Peres/Frederic Richard
Priere Eucharistique: Ad Accedentes: Gustate Et Videte - Marcel Peres/Frederic Richard
Priere Eucharistique: Diacre: Vicit Leo De Tribu Juda - Jean-Etienne Langiani
Priere Eucharistique: Lauda: Speravit (Lucernarium Pour Les Vepres) - Lycourgos Angelopoulos/Malcolm Bothwell

Customer Reviews:

early christian music.......2007-04-19

Great music this is the music practiced in the early centuries of the Church, before the western church destoryed a lot of it.This is so emotionally it energizes you to praise God. They did a great job reconstructing the chants Great Buy

Mozarabic Chant - Emphasis on ARABIC.......2006-03-25

I'm sure other reviewers comments about this work and generally about Mozarabic chant in general are true. Christianity originated in the east and Mozarabic chant's less polished, austere qualities most likely resembles ancient christian chant. The quality of the work is unquestioned.

But for a person whose hearing sensibilities have been so influenced by western gregorian chant, the heavy arabic influence in the music may prove a hard listen for the western ear.

You definately want to listen to the samples before purchase.

Byzantine Chant in Latin/Latin sung in Byzantine Chant.......2001-09-07

It is Byzantine Chant sung in Latin. Think of Latin hymns sung by a Byzantine soloist, two or more singers, or a choir. Lycorgos Angelopoulos is a godsend as he finally sings the Latin hymns right because I have always wondered what the Latin would sound like sung by somebody with a thick Greek accent.This recording is similar to other recordings by the Ensemble Organum. The melodies are characterized by an ison(drone). Marcel Peres also does a fine job of singing Byzantine Chant in Latin even though he is not Greek.To me, this singing is THE original Gregorian Chant and what Gregorian Chant should sound like. The Gregorian Chant that most people hear and think of as Greg. Chant is actually the Solesmes style which is an interpretation of Greg. Chant and should not be synonymous with Greg.Chant. The Solesmes style is too polished and refined for early Christian chant and is therefore not historically accurate even though it is the official one used in the Latin rite(not Latin language) since 1850. Early Christian chant to me sounded more austere and ascetic and this recording along with the other Ensemble Organum recordings(Old Roman Chant, Beneventan Chant, Ambrosian Chant, etc.) proves that this is what Gregorian Chant really and originally sounded like.

The Latin Mass meets the Arab Moors.......2001-08-20

Marcel Peres has done a fine job of recording an excellent representation (and in the process made available) of one of the rarest and least-known of all liturgical traditions.

The Mozarabic Rite, which survives in the Spanish cathedrals of Toledo and Salamanca alone, is a sumptuous feast for the ears and senses. Combining the immortal Latin phraseology of the Mass and its various parts, the Mozarabic tradition colors them with a temperament totally unique. Diverging from the unadorned, simple, appropriately named plain-chant of the Gregorian tradition, the Mozarabic formula incorporates Arab musical influences to the most Christian of events, the sacrifice of the Mass and holy communion.

Peres' Ensemble Organum does a head-dizzying job of making the melismatas (long variations and note changes on one vowel or sound) breathlessly exciting to listen to. Its apparent at once that this music is singular among the world's traditions, and deserves to be heard by more people. It is a masterful recording, done in Toledo's Capilla Mozarabe (Mozarabic Chapel) in the Cathedral, and even without the visual stimulation of the church, the music alone with the magnificent acoustics transports the listener 1,000 years back to days when the Christian Mozarabes developed a rite all their own amidst Islamic controlled Moorish Spain. This disc should be of interest to any sociologist or historian of Spain and especially Spain of the Mediaeval Age. The political and social confrontations of the two cultures - European Christian and Arabic Muslim - produce an exotic result that we may enjoy today.

The music is first-rate, but if another reason is needed, it is the rarity of this type of recording. A low-priced, excellent disc of this repertoire is, quite simply, impossible to find elsewhere. You may find a track on perhaps one or two other chronological collections of western liturgical music, but no other complete recording exists devoted wholly to the style. Marcel Peres is known for his exhaustive research into authenticity and his drive to accurately record liturgical rites as they were really heard in their heyday - and in this instance he performs admirably. Participate in the Mass of the Mozarabic people and enjoy an experience that will undoubtedly highlight the cultural connection between east and west and may also spark an interest in further exploration of the rite and its times!

Messe de Notre Dame (Guillaume de Machaut)/ Ensemble Organum (Marcel Peres)
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No, friends, it isn't plausible.

Transcendent

The no-nonsense approach we've been waiting for

Machaut's wild ride to heaven

The Missing Link Between Paris and Tunis!

Messe de Notre Dame (Guillaume de Machaut)/ Ensemble Organum (Marcel Peres)
Guillaume de Machaut , Plainchant , Malcolm Bothwell , Jean-Etienne Langianni , Marcel Peres , Antoine Sicot , Jerome Casalonga , and Ensemble Organum
Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Perotin / The Hilliard Ensemble

Machaut: Messe de Notre Dame / The Hilliard Ensemble

ASIN: B0000007AY
Release Date: 1997-01-10

Tracks:

Guillaume de Machaut: Introit: Suscepimus Deus misericordiam tuam
Guillaume de Machaut: Kyrie
Guillaume de Machaut: Gloria
Guillaume de Machaut: Graduel: Suscepimus Deus misericordiam tuam
Guillaume de Machaut: Alleluia: Adorabo ad templum sanctum
Guillaume de Machaut: Credo
Guillaume de Machaut: Offertorium: Diffusa est gratia in labiis tuis
Guillaume de Machaut: Preface: Vere dignum et justum est
Guillaume de Machaut: Sanctus
Guillaume de Machaut: Agnus Dei
Guillaume de Machaut: Communion: Responsum accepit Symeon
Guillaume de Machaut: Ite Missa est - Deo gratias

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Although Machaut's oft-recorded Mass is probably the best known work of medieval music, Marcel Pérès and his Ensemble Organum make you literally hear it for the first time. For starters, the movements are performed in a liturgical context, with appropriate plainsong insertions. The vocal lines, in turn, are ornamented with boisterous scoops, Bob Dylan-like slides, and decorations that will sound strange to modern ears. Yet the ornaments illuminate the work's celebratory aspects, and brings Machaut's quirky imagination into firmer focus than more conservative recordings. Pérès is to Machaut as Schnabel was to Beethoven. --Jed Distler

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Machaut's mass is one of the great masterpieces of the Middle Ages. Machaut was a man of many talents whose music represents a point of momentous transition from medieval practice to the emerging Renaissance. This four-voice work, the earliest of its kind by a known composer, is difficult to perform, not because of the notes, but because of questions concerning interpretation of the notation. You'll notice striking differences between Ensemble Organum's performance and every other available version. This group, known for its meticulous scholarship and performance perfectionism, sings in a style that sacrifices modern ideas about vocal purity and beauty in favor of what they believe to be a more authentic 14th-century style. This involves lots of micro-tonal slides and numerous fluttering, nervous ornaments, often done by more than one voice at a time, and a sort of "pushed" vocal quality that some listeners may find strange. Strange, maybe, but it's unique and it's convincing. --David Vernier

Customer Reviews:

No, friends, it isn't plausible........2007-05-01

The long review by Christopher Forbes above makes a very good case for taking this performance at face value in terms of scholarship, but certain facts are asserted as proven that are in fact quite in question. The influence of North African (Islamic? Arabic? Moorish?) music on Medieval Europe, for instance. Most people who argue this case seem to me to project modern Arabic music backwards 1200 years in time and assume that it sounded much the same; really we have no idea how it sounded. The North African origin of the bowed string instruments that became the vielle, viol, and violin is also very uncertain; much has been made of peg-boxes versus peg-disks, and as good a case can be made for a Nordic ancestry of the vielle as for a Moorish.
But big problem, however, with Ensemble Organum's hyper-ornamentation is that it makes no sense in terms of the developments of ars nova notation and contemporary treatments (in words and notes) of prolation. How could you get from Machaut a la Peres to Ars Subtilior composers like Ciconia, let alone Dufay and Ockeghem? And are we to believe that France was more Islamicized than Italy, half of which had been under North African rule for centuries before the Normans? Why would the trecento Italian composers like Landini be so obviously on a different course?
Okay, forgetting my musicological doubts, I have to say I find this version of Machaut less interesting than some other reviewers, and less listenable than the Hilliard's or other performances. There are bits I like and bits I loathe, but on the whole I sense some compulsion to "get spiritual" with the music, as if it weren't deep enough on its own terms. I have thoroughly enjoyed and respected other recordings by Marcel Peres -- the Josquin Pange Lingua, for example, and the Chantilly Codex CD -- but this Nostre Dame, judged just as music, is not to my taste.

Transcendent.......2005-11-29

Forget all the talk about historical accuracy, and interpretation. The real object of a performance is to get at something beyond the music, and without a doubt, Marcel Peres and Ensemble Organum take you there. This disk was a revelation. A truly transporting experience.

The no-nonsense approach we've been waiting for.......2005-10-26

Does anyone else get it besides them? If Ensemble Organum are as correct as they are believable, Guillaume de Machaut was a composer of energetic, driving, bold and rhythmic music. Unfortunately, it is not stylish nor is it scholarly to believe this today. We live in the world where early music is treated as abstractly ornate and void of true emotion. Elizabethan music is often played with excessive frills and highly "expressive" hesitations and tempo shifts that in actuality break the rhythm that this music, written for dancing, originally was meant to have.

The same thing happens, unfortunately, to the music of fourteenth-century France. Dominated by lofty British scholars who try to speak for France's history instead of their own, the music is often marred in the quest for a pure, but sterile, sound. Men sing in forced falsetto voices, trying to impersonate the soul-less eunics whom the British automatically figure must have sung this music. Thank God for a group that knows how to render a sound that makes the music come alive.

The energy, the feeling, the power, the beautiful roughness of Machaut is finally conveyed. The urgent despair of the Kyrie. The uncertain optimism of the Sanctus. The loving caress of the famous Agnus Dei. At last, all of these, in their forcefullness and subtlety, are here, carefully crafted and brilliantly executed.

Machaut's wild ride to heaven.......2004-06-29

First off, this version of Machaut's mass is the sort of daring interpretation that is likely to spark controversy. The way Peres and the Ensemble Organum add ornamentation, slide in and out of notes, and sing with an agressive, non-vibrato style, will be strong drink to those who think this music should be sung with modern style vocal technique. But I found this disc a revelation, connecting Machaut's work to Middle Eastern styles, Eastern European chant and religious music, as well as to the raucous mode of singing used by Shape-note singers in the US. In the words of Charles Ives' father, "You won't get a wild ride to heaven on pretty little sounds." This performance is just such a wild ride, and it's heavenly. There are plenty of "nice" versions of this music available, but this version really rocks.

The Missing Link Between Paris and Tunis!.......2004-04-06

The Early Music field is full of schisms. What once seemed like a monolithic movement, dedicated to challenging the hegemony of 18th and 19th century classical music in the concert hall has turned into a vigorous section of the musical market in its own right. And, as a field that is equal parts musician driven and musicological, it is inevitable that there should develop schisms around points of interpretation. This particularly CD is the product of the very well-researched theories of Marcel Peres. Peres, taking his cues from the historical record, has created a performance of Machaut's historically important and very beautiful Mass and restored the art of ornamentation, microtonal inflection, just intonation, and rhythmic flexibility that reflects at least one of the dominant vocal styles prevalent in 14th century church music. The results have been controversial ever since the release of this CD in 1996.

Machaut's Mass is perhaps the most famous product of the late Middle Ages. It is the first complete setting of the Ordinary of the Mass ever produced by one composer. What is not clear is whether the work was just a collection of separate Mass movements that Machaut assembled for an occasion, or if they were originally intended to be performed together. Machaut uses a wide variety of polyphonic techniques in this work, from long melismatic textures to almost chordal writing. He ingeniously varied his given material, Gregorian chant which is placed in the lowest voice. Machaut shows a new concern for the combination of vocal textures that was not present in the works of earlier polyphonic composers. In a deeply felt performance, this work never fails to sound ancient, and surprisingly fresh, no matter what the approach taken by the ensemble.

The approach toward this work is what distinguishes the present disc from its competition. The best renditions that I own, the Taverner Consort on EMI and the Hilliard Ensemble on Harmonia Mundi take a very respectful and conservative approach to the score. There are differences between them in details, as source material in this work can vary wildly. But both sing exquisitely and with an ear for accurate just intonation. Both also take the work at a good clip, giving the piece a forward drive and rhythmic intensity that is wonderful to hear. This recording is nothing like them!

Peres approaches the work from almost as an ethnomusicologist. Vocal tone is nasal and throat and chest driven. It has the tone of an Arabic muezzin chanting the call for prayer. In addition, the score is used as a framework for extensive improvisatory ornamentation, often with scoops, vibratory ornament and microtonal inflections. The result is much closer to the sound of the choral music of the Caucasus, the singing in Orthodox Churches and most especially, the chants of Sufis in Moorish Spain. This concept can be justified I think in the historical literature and musicologically. Moorish influence on Western Europe cannot be doubted, particularly in architecture and in instrument development. Instruments that make their first appearance in the Middle Ages, like the lute and the viol almost certainly came into Europe via Spain and North Africa. The Arabic influence on education and the arts is widely acknowledged. Why should it not be the same in the field of music? I believe that Ensemble Organum makes an impressive case for the school of thought that believes in Islamic influence on the rise of polyphony in the west.

Of course, all of this would be moot if the CD were poorly executed. The good news is that this CD is a spectacular rendition of the Machaut work. Peres and company choose to present the piece in its greater liturgical context, alternating the polyphonic Ordinary with plainchant sections from a set of Marian Propers. The approach to the chant is similarly ornamented and microtonal. Setting the Mass in its context is not new, Andrew Parrott pioneered this in the 1980s. But in the present CD, the polyphony comes naturally out of the plainchant texture rather than sounding like the intrusion of a later age, as it can with a more traditional performance. Also, given the high emphasis on ornament, the work could sound like a fantasy on Machaut rather than an interpretation on the work. Comparative listens to a more conservative rendering indicate that Peres and Ensemble are fairly faithful to the original scaffolding. This is clearly Machaut's work, not the performers. But the rendering is a fascinating glimpse into what the composer may have actually intended with his groundbreaking work.

The sound of the CD may be difficult for those used to a more contemplative reading of the Mass like the Hilliard's. The vocal quality too will take some more traditional lovers of Medieval music back. But I find the spectacular ornamentation of moments like the In Terra Pax, which is breathtaking, to more than make up for any weaknesses in the disc. And the vocal quality is no stranger than that of the Bulgarian Woman's Choir. I would suggest however, that if you are not familiar with the Machaut Mass, that you get another recording, preferably the Taverner Consort or the Hilliard Ensemble in addition to this one. The comparative approach on this work is essential to understanding both the framework of the Machaut piece and the incredible power and freedom of the present recording.

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Francisco Guerrero: Requiem

Beautifully executed, gracefully nuanced, above all, expressive

A shining blackness

Very impressive

A really important recording...

Guerrero: Requiem

Manufacturer: Glossa
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Morales en Toledo: Polifonía inédita del Códices 25, 1545-1547

Cristóbal de Morales: Assumption Mass

ASIN: B00003NHB6
Release Date: 1999-12-15

Tracks:

Missa Pro Defunctis: Processional: Quand'os Miro, Mi Dios
Missa Pro Defunctis: Introit: Requiem Aeternam
Missa Pro Defunctis: Kyrie
Missa Pro Defunctis: Collect: Deus, Qui Inter Apostolicos
Missa Pro Defunctis: Epistle
Missa Pro Defunctis: Gradual: Requiem Aeternam
Missa Pro Defunctis: Tract: Absolve, Domine
Missa Pro Defunctis: Sequence: Dies Irae
Missa Pro Defunctis: Gospel
Missa Pro Defunctis: Offertory: Domine Jesu Christe
Missa Pro Defunctis: Preface
Missa Pro Defunctis: Sanctus
Missa Pro Defunctis: Tiento Sobre Ad Dominum Cum Tribularer
Missa Pro Defunctis: Pater Noster
Missa Pro Defunctis: Agnus Dei
Missa Pro Defunctis: Communion: Luceat Eis A 5
Missa Pro Defunctis: Postcommunion
Missa Pro Defunctis: Processional: In Paradisum
Absolutio Super Tumulum: Hei Mihi, Domine
Absolutio Super Tumulum: Prayer: Non Intres In Judicium
Absolutio Super Tumulum: Responsory: Libera Me, Domine
Absolutio Super Tumulum: Kyrie
Absolutio Super Tumulum: Pater Noster
Absolutio Super Tumulum: Prayer: Deus, Qui Inter Apostolicos
Absolutio Super Tumulum: Antiphon: In Paradisum

Customer Reviews:

Francisco Guerrero: Requiem.......2007-03-25

Cristóbal de Morales: Assumption Mass

Spanish music and its history, although of globe-girdling significance, has often suffered from anglophone writers, at worst contempt and at best neglect, ever since Spain was branded the evil empire in 1588. Only in recent decades have scholars begun to correct this monumental omission. Michael Noone is becoming one of the leaders of the cause. Let me admit up front that I have known Michael for 25 years, although we have actually met only a few times during that period. Partly because I have followed his career, I was thrilled when he began issuing recordings of the music that has been the object of his devotion. Francisco Guerrero: Requiem is the second of four recordings he has done on Glossa with Richard Cheetham's Orchestra of the Renaissance (the others: Canticum Canticorum, Cristóbal de Morales-Assumption Mass, and Sebastián de Vivanco-In Manus Tuas).

One of his purposes in these recordings has been to convince the world that the combination of singers with cornett, shawms, sackbuts, dulcian, organ, and harp that is described in the records actually works. He proves it, in spades! The performances on these recordings are among the most musical interpretations of sixteenth-century polyphony I have ever heard. Given the limitation that it is all sacred music, the mood, style, and instrumentation show great variety: vocal, instrumental, polyphony, chant, ensemble, solo. The Guerrero Requiem (and the Assumption Mass) are liturgical reconstructions of scholarly precision, while the other two recordings are anthologies. All are superbly performed and definitively refute scoffers who assert that this music or these instruments cannot be performed to modern standards. The performances include spare, stark Gregorian chant as well as rich, voluptuous polyphony. The shaping of musical lines, timbre, and intonation are exquisitely refined. Tempos are beautifully controlled and absolutely convincing. These performances combine consummate musicianship with meticulous musicology, evident in the use of instrumentation described in local period documents and local Gregorian chant, not to mention the fact that Michael Noone has transcribed this music and done the archival research himself. His soup-to-nuts productions are archetypal illustrations of what can be achieved by the combination of excellent scholarship and exemplary musicianship. This is also evident in the exceptionally clear and informative program notes.

Michael Noone's sumptuous recordings of Spanish Renaissance Music should grace the shelves of every audiophile. I have bought them all, and these days, I find myself listening to little else!

Beautifully executed, gracefully nuanced, above all, expressive.......2006-09-06

This recording is important not just for making an unknown masterpiece available once again, but for the perfection of the performance and the attention to musical and historical detail. The voices are supported by an instrumental ensemble woven so well into the vocal texture as to become part and parcel of the performance, rather than simply backing up or coloring the polyphony. The phrases are carefully shaped and the diction crystal clear. No 'high' voices are present (no sopranos are called for in the score) and it would be easy for the vocal texture (ATTB) to become very dense and weighty, but Noone and his performers never let this happen. Each line is clearly sung/played and parts emerge from the texture at the appropriate moments.
With the exception of Victoria, many composers from the Spanish Renaissance remain unknown or at best, under-appreciated in the USA. Hopefully this fine performance will encourage many to seek out more music of this great 16th century master, along with that of his fine compatriots.

A shining blackness.......2004-12-20

Guerrero, a very important but nowadays unfortunately neglected figure in the XVI. century "international" music, wrote a very impressive, ruthless, anthracian "service" what we may call "Requiem". The cover with its plain and suggestive manner also reflects the profound understanding of the work.

The performance is superb. Musically and electronically. Listen to it regularly.

Very impressive.......2000-10-09

I bought this CD after hearing this group's fabulous reconstruction of Cordoba Vespers. Again, I am very impressed. This again is a reconstruction - this time of the Requiem Mass as it might have been performed in Seville Cathedral to honor Guerrero's death in 1599. Guerrero, whose own 1582 Requiem mass forms the backbone of the instant recording, was a native of Seville, but his music was well known as far as Mexico, Guatemala and Chile. In fact, during his life, Guerrero may have been the most celebrated Spanish composer. The reconstruction of the funeral service here is very convincing. It begins with an instrumental processional, performed on sackbutts, shawms and cornetts, wonderfully accentuated by drums. The main body of the mass unfolds in a well-integrated sequence of solo and choral plainchant (drawn from contemporary Spanish sources) and polyphonic movements elaborating on the plainchant, accompanied by either a solo dulcian, or a consort of wind instruments which frequently double solo voices in a very characteristic manner of the age. The mass ends with a plainchant antiphon In paradisum fading beautifully into the distance as the imaginary funeral procession leaves the church. The singing is superb. Special mention goes to Josep Cabre and Simon Davies as plainchant soloists, who do such a wonderful job of binding professionally-written polyphonic movements with their anonymous liturgical roots.

A really important recording..........2000-06-17

I read somewhere after I had become aware of this recording that it was a Requiem FOR Francisco Guerrero, and I was thrown because I thought it was a reqiuem BY Guerrero. It turns out to be both, actually. Guerrero's own setting of the Requiem mass was evidently the one used at his own funeral (in 1599). The service was celebrated at the cathedral in Seville, a venue which is significant for more than one reason. Seville was, firstly, a cultural center of Spain (and of Europe, really). It was Spain's principal port city, so cultural development was bound to be constant. Its cathedral was one of the largest in Spain and was the site of frequent lavish ceremonies of many kinds. The second reason that the Seville cathedral is significant is its connection to Guerrero. Born in Seville, he was variously a member of the cathedral choir, assistant to the chapelmaster, and later chapelmaster himself (and, hence, a priest).

There is, obviously, a lot of history behind this recording; that sense of history is what you might call the "mission" of the Orchestra of the Renaissance. They aim, among other things, to bring attention to the historical role of instruments in Renaissance vocal music (and, incidentally, Seville was known for its instrumental "ensemble" of sorts). That sense of history naturally leads to a performance practice which focuses on placing music in its historical context.

So, then, for the purpose of context there is a variety of music besides just Guerrero's mass. There is a Guerrero motet, one by Josquin, an organ piece by Cabezon, instrumental processionals by Esquivel and Guerrero, and an ample amount of plainchant (in the form of graduals, prayers, lessons, antiphons, etc.). This method of presenting the mass (with materials which would be used in a service) not only makes for a good deal of variety (hence a more enjoyable listen) but is quite welcome, to me at least, on a artistic level (especially for this music, highly religious as it is).

Guerrero was considered, during his lifetime, to be one of the best (if not THE best) composers of the period. His music is of the greatest profundity: in the great Spanish tradition it is, firstly, sober - the famous "Spanish gloom" (intense spiritual expression) is present here. It is also very subtle (emotion is abundant, but the music is not superficial). This Requiem bears some comparison to that of Victoria, but it is better compared, I think, to another spanish composer - Morales (although he's much less familiar than Victoria). The other music is all of the same restrained expressive quality which makes for such a rewarding experience. The range of feeling is broad - from anxiety about death to penitence for sinfulness to, ultimately, hope of eternal life (heard in the Agnus Dei, which is especially beautiful).

The acoustic is good - very warm,and reverberant enough - so that from the opening notes you are swept into the music. It serves to set the proper mood for the program. The instrumental sound is very pleasing - it is (to use a phrase which is admittedly inaccurate, but hopefully descriptive) very Spanish. What I mean is that, since there is no brass to lend brightness, the sound produced is rich and dark (which means, obviously, that it sits quite nicely alongside Guerrero's music ); it is effective both in passages exclusively for instruments and in vocal passages which employ the instruments to double parts. The players are obviously skilled. The choral sound is good as well. The sounds produced by each of the parts is very nice (the tones are "standardized", but still warm). Overall, the texture of the sound is very clean and smooth (and colorful). The group's balance is good - the parts can all be heard independently (with the exception of one of the tenor parts in a few places - but that's unavoidable, I guess). Dynamics are good (both the overall volume and the sense of the lines specific to each part), as are tempi (moderate, a little quick in places, but generally unhurried). What that all means, though, more importantly, is that they really capture the spirit of the music - the group appears to be caught up in it (as you will be) and as a result the music really speaks. The decision to double the vocal parts with instruments is, as I said before, quite important to the approach taken by the Orchestra of the Renaissance - I don't know much about its historical validity (I'm sure there's good reason to do it) but it is quite effective here; even if it's not your particular taste it certainly doesn't detract from the overall "vocal" sound.

There are obvious comparisons to be made with similar recordings by Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Consort (most prominently both employ all male choirs with instrumental support). None of the material overlaps with any recorded by McCreesh, but if you've heard any of his recordings I can speak to the relative sound of his choir with this one. I prefer the sound on this recording - it is cleaner and smoother (although McCreesh undeniably has a certain advantage in terms of sonic power); that quality is appreciated everywhere but most of all in the chant passages, which in this recording are really very good. I also think that this choir has slightly more focus and balance that McCreesh's - all that to say that if you're familiar with the approach the Gabrieli Consort takes to the music it performs, there's more of the same good stuff to be found on this Guerrero recording.

This disc was a Gramophone editor's pick back in about May (I think), but as of my writing this the article has not appeard on their website. The review had a lot of praise for this recording (so you don't have to rely only on me).

Tracks:

Missus Est (Mode VII)
Conditor Alme Siderum (Mode IV)
Rorate Caeli Mass: Introit: Rorate Caeli (Mode I)
Rorate Caeli Mass: Psalm Verse (Psalm 18)
Rorate Caeli Mass: Kyrie (Mode I)
Rorate Caeli Mass: Oration: Festina, Quaesumus
Rorate Caeli Mass: Lesson: Locutus Est Dominus
Rorate Caeli Mass: Gradual: Prope Est (Mode VI)
Rorate Caeli Mass: Gospel: Missus Est
Rorate Caeli Mass: Offertory: Ave Maria (Mode VIII)
Rorate Caeli Mass: Preface
Rorate Caeli Mass: Sanctus (Mode II)
Rorate Caeli Mass: Agnus Dei (Mode I)
Rorate Caeli Mass: Communion: Ecce Virgo (Mode I)
Rorate Caeli Mass: Benedicamus Domino
The 'O' Antiphons (Mode I): O Sapientia
The 'O' Antiphons (Mode I): O Oriens
The 'O' Antiphons (Mode I): Alleluia: Veni, Domine (Mode I)
The 'O' Antiphons (Mode I): Announcement Of The Christmas Solemnity
First Vespers Of Christmas: Antiphons: Antequam (Mode I)
First Vespers Of Christmas: Joseph Fili David (Mode VII)
First Vespers Of Christmas: Completi Sunt (Mode VIII)
First Vespers Of Christmas: Ecce Jam Venit (Mode VI)
First Vespers Of Christmas: Responsory: O Juda (Mode IV)
First Vespers Of Christmas: Hymn: Christe, Redemptor (Mode VIII)
First Vespers Of Christmas: Antiphon At The Magnificat: Cum Esset (Mode VIII)
The Christmas Night Office: Inviatory: Christus Natus Est (Mode IV)
The Christmas Night Office: Responsories: Hodie (Mode V)
The Christmas Night Office: O Magnum (Mode III)
The Christmas Night Office: Ecce Agnus Dei (Mode VII)
The Christmas Night Office: Verbum Caro (Mode VII)
The Christmas Night Office: Hymn Of Lauds: A Solis Ortus Cardine (Mode III)
Midnight Mass: Inroit: Dominus Dixit (Mode II)
Midnight Mass: Gradual: Tecum Principium (Mode II)
Midnight Mass: Alleluia: Dominus Dixit (Mode VIII)
Midnight Mass: Offertory: Laetentur Caeli
Midnight Mass: Communion: In Splendoribus (Mode VI)

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Preface
Non-Fiction
Manufacturer: Spm Germany
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Form of Release

ASIN: B000008J06
Release Date: 1991-11-12

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Great Beginner CD for Gregorian Chant
The Monks of Mount Angel
Outstanding

Basic 100, Vol. 71: Gregorian Chants

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000003FZV
Release Date: 1995-11-07

Tracks:

Gaudeamus - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Laeta quies - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Desiderium - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Fidelis servus - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Oportet te - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Qui biberit aquam - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Nemo te condemnavit - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Lutum fecit - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Videns Dominus - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
De profundis - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Ave verum - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Virgo Dei - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Sub tuum - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Virgo Maria - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Jesu dulcis memoria - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Attende Domine - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Kyrie, fons bonitatis - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Rorate caeli - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Alma redemptoris - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Ave Regina - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Regina caeli - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Salve Regina - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Alleluia, lapis revolutus est - Choir Of Mount Angel Abbey
Mass Of The Blessed Virgin (Cum Iubilo): Kyrie - Monastic Choir Of The Abbey Of Montserrat
Mass Of The Blessed Virgin (Cum Iubilo): Gloria - Monastic Choir Of The Abbey Of Montserrat
Mass Of The Blessed Virgin (Cum Iubilo): Credo I - Monastic Choir Of The Abbey Of Montserrat
Mass Of The Blessed Virgin (Cum Iubilo): Sanctus - Monastic Choir Of The Abbey Of Montserrat
Mass Of The Blessed Virgin (Cum Iubilo): Agnus Dei - Monastic Choir Of The Abbey Of Montserrat
Mass Of The Blessed Virgin (Cum Iubilo): Ite, missa est XV - Monastic Choir Of The Abbey Of Montserrat
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Weekday Mass For Advent And Lent: Agnus Dei - Gregorian Chants
Weekday Mass For Advent And Lent: Benedicamus Domino - Monastic Choir Of The Abbey Of Montserrat
Chants Of The Celebrants And Ministers: Collect - Monastic Choir Of The Abbey Of Montserrat
Chants Of The Celebrants And Ministers: Epistle - Monastic Choir Of The Abbey Of Montserrat
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Chants Of The Celebrants And Ministers: Prayer Of The Faithful - Monastic Choir Of The Abbey Of Montserrat
Chants Of The Celebrants And Ministers: Preface - Monastic Choir Of The Abbey Of Montserrat
Chants Of The Celebrants And Ministers: Pater noster - Monastic Choir Of The Abbey Of Montserrat
Chants Of The Celebrants And Ministers: Pax Domini - Monastic Choir Of The Abbey Of Montserrat
Chants Of The Celebrants And Ministers: Ite, missa est XV - Monastic Choir Of The Abbey Of Montserrat

Customer Reviews:

Great Beginner CD for Gregorian Chant.......2004-07-08

I was looking for a beginnning CD of Gregorian Chant and this one met my requirements for both selection and price.

The best thing I liked about this CD is that it has many of the chants (different versions) from the Mass. For Catholics who never has been to a Mass that used Gregorian Chant, this will show them some of what they are either missing or will be getting if they go to one.

The Monks of Mount Angel.......2000-12-27

This CD contains a variety of well-known Gregorian Chant pieces which are done quite nicely by the monks of Mount Angel Abbey. Gregorian Chant was written to be meditative and the monks do a wonderful job of preserving this ancient form of liturgical music.

It would make an ideal addition to any Gregorian Chant collection or as a initial CD for someone who is being introduced to the beauty of chant (plainsong).

Outstanding.......2000-11-24

The best Gregorian Chant CD I own. The mix and the selection provides for both excellent listening and meditation.

Average customer rating:

Preface/In the Know
Non-Fiction
Manufacturer: Rock Ridge Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Album Description

NJ's Non Fiction was formed from the ashes of the metal band Hades. The core songwriting team took Non Fiction in the tuned down, heavy groove direction that their former band was headed toward before its demise. Their first and second CDs are now re-issued, packaged together in this specially priced double CD set.

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Requiem Aeternam

Manufacturer: Jade / Bmg
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Shostakovich: Complete Songs 2 - The Last Years

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Shostakovich: Complete Songs 2 - The Last Years
Shostakovich , Evtodieva , Sokolova , and Kznetsov
Manufacturer: Delos Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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Release Date: 2002-06-11

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A Foreword To My Complete Works And A Brief Contemplation With Respect To This Foreword Op.123 - Dmitri Dmitrievich Shostakovich
Autographic Testimony - Fyodor Kuznetsov
A Difficult To Fulfill Desire - Fyodor Kuznetsov
Discretion - Fyodor Kuznetsov
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Exaggerated Delight - Fyodor Kuznetsov
Ophelia's Song - Victoria Evtodieva
Gamauyn The Soothsaying Bird - Victoria Evtodieva
We Were Together - Victoria Evtodieva
The City Sleeps - Victoria Evtodieva
The Tempest - Victoria Evtodieva
Secret Signs - Victoria Evtodieva
Music - Victoria Evtodieva
My Verses - Lyubov Sokolova
Whence All This Tenderness? - Lyubov Sokolova
Dialogue Between Hamlet And His Conscience - Lyubov Sokolova
The Poet And The Czar - Lyubov Sokolova
No, The Drum Did Beat - Lyubov Sokolova
To Anna Akhmatova - Lyubov Sokolova
Captain Lebyadkin's Love - Fyodor Kuznetsov
The Cockroach - Fyodor Kuznetsov
A Costume Ball For The Benefit Of Governessess - Fyodor Kuznetsov
A Luminous Personality - Fyodor Kuznetsov

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