简介：
In many ways I think it is one of Hesperion’s most successful (and certainly one of the most striking) contributions to the sixteenth-century Hispanic repertory. Recorded by the male voices of Capella Reial witth support from viols, sackbuts, organ and dulcian, it inhabits a sound world that contrasts strongly with any of their other recordings, including the Guerrero disc where the instrumentation is more varied and the vocal sonority often dominated by the distinctive (and distinguished) soprano of Montserrat Figueras. The scoring adopted on the Morales disc (for which incidentally, there is no firm evidence) is mournful, even lugubrious, but it suits the mood of the music so well that the overall effect, enhanced by a reverberant church acoustic, is of a lustrous velvet unremittingly black but with a rich sheen that catches the light of the musical textures. Most of the music for the Office of the Dead survives in only one source, preserved in Puebla Cathedral, Mexico. The setting is of such stark simplicity really a chordal rendition of the chant that the attribution to Morales, one of the great contapuntalists of his day, must be questionable, unless it was deliberately composed in this manner for performance in the New World (an undocumented but fascinating possibility). Circumstantial evidence in the form of a detailed account of the solemn funeral rites held in Mexico City in honour of Charles V in November 1559 which mentions polyphonie settings of some of these texts by Morales, and the occasional harmonic shift and cadential pattern that seem to bear his stylistic imprint, provide some support in favour of the attribution. Ultimately, however, the Requiem Mass is the more satisfying piece, although conforming to an indigenous tradition of setting texts of this kind, it, too, is less concerned with contrapuntal skill and more with a sustained solemnity that has earned Spanish polyphony of this period the epithets ‘austere’ and ‘mystical’. In one sense it is a shame that Hesperion XX chose to represent Morales in this way: his qualities as a composer of non-funeral music are yet to be widely appreciated. Nevertheless, this disc is so special in the sound of male voices doubled by those mellow and largely unobtrusive instruments and above all, the atmosphere of the recording (it has the feel of the early hours of the morning about it) that I would say it is one of the best they have ever made.
The Guerrero disc is altogether another story. The blend and unanimity of tone colour achieved on the Morales disc is instantly dispelled here by the addition of the sopranos, who sing in a quite different way, and while the participation of instruments is much more easily justified in this later motet repertory of Seville Cathedral, the overall effect is not consistently successful. Something of the richness of the sonority of the Morales disc is found in the full-textured O sacrum convivium and some of the polychoral items like the terrifically exciting 12-voice Duo Serapahim work well, but too often the combination of voices and instruments serves only to muddy the contrapuntal texture and obscure the words. The instrumental playing is, as always with Hesperion XX, superb, and the purely instrumental items are among the most compelling on the disc. Savall and his team have to be congratulated for attempting to perform Guerrero’s music in this way, but this recording must represent an experimental stage in which not every piece finds its best mode of expression (the eight-voice Pater Noster is an example) as almost every possible combination of voices and instruments is tried out (even within the course of one piece in the case of the Salve regina). Further research into this area is desperately needed: did instruments consistently double or substitute voices? Did the ensemble of sackbuts and cornetts (paid as a separate body by the cathedral chapter) mingle with viols as here? Did instruments participate only in certain kinds of pieces? Was there a correlation between style and instrumentation (Savall’s recording tends to suggest that there was although I’m not sure that this was his intention)? What influence did his visits to Venice have on Guerrero? How and in what contexts was ornamentation used (it adds brilliance to the instrumental version of O altitudo divitiarum here)? It would have been interesting to know the rationale behind Savall’s decisions. Questions of scoring aside, on one point there is
absolutely no doubt: the quality of Guerrero’s music and this is a fine selection of his pieces (though with perhaps too much overlap with existing recordings). Both these recordings deserve a place in your collection: the Guerrero because it is a bold attempt to tackle an almost unstudied question of performance practice, and the Morales because, quite simply, it is so special.
classicalacarte.net
This Super Audio remastering groups three discs of major works originally reviewed when they were new: Morales, Guerrero, and Victoria, all made for the Columbus quincentenary and issued as Astrée E 8765, 8766, and 8767, respectively. The Guerrero disc was the most important, for the composer had been poorly represented on disc before it arrived, while we have had a steady stream of his works since then. The notes repeat the point first refuted in the original review that the texts of the motets “were never the object of any monophonic setting.” Not only were they found in familiar chant antiphons, but Guerrero also quoted the chants in his settings. Guerrero spent his entire career at the Seville cathedral, the most important church post in Spain. I originally cited a preference for two pieces as sung by the Westminster Cathedral Choir, but that minimized the importance of this collection, which remains a monument to the composer even after his representation on disc has grown.
The Morales disc was a first recording of two complementary works, a Mass for the Dead and an Office of the Dead, the latter consisting of Matins only. The original issue provided only the Latin texts, oddly enough, while this set has six sets of translations, as it does for all three discs. Morales served in Rome before ending his days at the Toledo cathedral. The Mass has since been recorded by Paul McCreesh (22:2) and others, but this may appeal to some listeners more than McCreesh’s liturgical reconstruction.
The Victoria disc combined familiar and unfamiliar motets and other short works, half of them accompanied. It is unfortunate that Savall did not choose more works of the same nature, for the disc runs less than an hour. Still, it is a useful cross section of Victoria’s smaller forms. He, too, returned from Rome to spend his last years as a convent chaplain. Spanning three generations and more than a century (the 16th), these three composers are beyond doubt the leading lights of Spain at the time. The three discs belong together, just as they were created together.
The Super Audio sound opens up the space of the Cardona church, Savall’s favorite recording venue, where all three discs were made. While the original discs sound good on a surround system, the music is more open and transparent on these discs. The digipack package is lavish, with a 210-page book that can be slipped out of the pocket that holds it by the back page. There is also a lot of color, both paintings of the period and photos of the ensemble. Priced around three-for-two, this is a good buy for anyone who was not around in the beginning. It also makes a beautiful gift.
arkivmusic.com
曲目：
DISC 1:
Cristóbal de Morales: Officium Defunctorum, for 4 voices
1. Ad matutinum. Circumdederunt me gemitus mortis 02:01
2. Invitatorium. Regem cui omnia vivunt. Psalmus 94: Venite, exultemus Domino 11:21
3. In primo nocturno. Versiculum: A porta infieri. Lectio 1 (Job 7, 16-21): Parce mihi Domine 03:16
4. In primo nocturno. Lectio 2 (Job 10, 1-7): Taedet animam meam vitae 03:42
5. In primo nocturno. Lectio 3 (Job 10, 8-12): Manus tuas 02:10
6. In secundo nocturno. Versiculum: Collocet eos cum principibus. Responsorum: Ne recorderis04:49 Amazon
Total running time: 27:17
Cristóbal de Morales: Missa Pro defunctis à 5
7. Introitus 05:59
8. Kyrie 05:55
9. Graduale 07:13
10.Sequentia 09:22
11.Offertorium: Domine Jesu Christe V. Hostias et preces 08:24
12.Sanctus 01:46
13.Benedictus 01:11
14.Agnus Dei 02:35
15.Communio: Lux aeterna V. Requiem aeternam 02:35
Total running time: 45:03
DISC 2:
Francisco Guerrero:
1. Ave Maria, motet for 4 voices 03:50
2. Alma Redemptoris Mater, for 4 voices 03:30
3. Beata Dei Genitrix, Maria, for 6 voices 05:18
4. Pater Noster, motet for 8 voices 05:02
5. O Domine Iesu Christe, for 4 voices 03:34
6. O Domine Iesu Christe, for 4 voices 03:32
7. O Sacrum Convivium, motet for 5 voices 03:30
8. Laudate Dominum de Caelis, motet for 8 voices 03:20
9. Gabriel Archangelus, motet for 4 voices 04:34
10.Ave Virgo Sanctissima, motet for 5 voices 03:46
11.Salve Regina, motet for 4 voices 08:50
12.Regina coeli, motet for 8 voices 04:55
13.O Altitudo Divitiarum, motet for 8 voices 02:53
14.Trahe me post te, Virgo Maria, motet for 5 voices 04:07
15.Duo Seraphim, motet for 12 voices 03:40
16.Ave Maria, motet for 8 voices 03:53
Total running time: 68:22
DISC 3:
Tomás Luis de Victoria:
1. Missa Ave maris stella, for 4 voices 02:13
2. Gaude, Maria virgo, motet for 5 voices 02:05
3. Trahe me post te, motet for 6 voices 02:36
4. Salve regina, antiphon for 8 voices & organ 10:33
5. Ave regina coelorum, antiphon for 5 voices 04:48
6. Sancta Maria, succurre miseris, motet for 4 voices 03:40
7. Ne timeas, Maria (In Annuntiatione Benissimae Mariae), motet for 4 voices 03:08
8. Senex puerum portabat, motet for 4 voices 03:16
9. O Magnum Mysterium, motet for 4 voices 03:24
10.Vidi speciosam, motet for 6 voices 07:36
11.Magnificat primi toni (all), for 8 voices & organ 11:33
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发表于 2020-3-27 08:34:12
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