Document

  1994
    June 1994
        Choral and song
                Palestrina Hodie Christus natus est. Stabat mater. Lassus Missa Bell'Amfitrit'altera.

Palestrina Missa Hodie Christus natus est. Hodie Christus natus est—motet. Stabat mater.

Lassus Missa Bell'Amfitrit'altera. Oxford Schola Cantorum / Jeremy Summerly.

Naxos (Super budget price) (CD) 8 550836 (66 minutes: DDD). Text and translation of Stabat mater included.

Palestrina: Missa—selected comparisons:

King's College Ch, Ledger (10/86) (EMIN) CD-EMX2098

Gabrieli Consort and Players, McCreesh (1/94) (ARCH) 437 833-2AH

With so much to link these two composers (and a double anniversary to boot), a coupling such as this one was inevitable. Yet even in a programme designed to present both in the same light (all the pieces recorded here are for double choir), the magisterial Roman and the mercurial Northerner remain polar opposites.

The Schola Cantorum of Oxford are a mixed choir over three dozen strong. Such numbers perfectly suit Palestrina's robust, confident Mass; but Lassus's nervous lines and unstable textures call for brisker tempos and a more flexible approach, one that allows the quirkiness to intrude forcefully on to the music. Palestrina's Stabat mater is sung with only two voices to a part, and the gain in clarity and poise is immediately apparent. For Lassus, a compromise between full and chamber choir would have done the trick. The Bell'Amfitrit' Mass has already been recorded by such choirs as The Sixteen and St John's College, Cambridge; as for Palestrina's oft-recorded Mass, this is generally a more full-bodied account than that of King's College; and while McCreesh's baroque version of the work is perhaps the most convincing on its own terms, it places itself squarely outside the 'English a cappella tradition' embodied on this recording.

Finally, and at the risk of betraying my prejudice, I note that there is more Palestrina on this disc than Lassus. Yet the latter's beautiful Stabat mater (also for double choir) would have been ideally placed alongside Palestrina's more famous setting. But enough quibbling: one can only applaud Naxos's commitment to fine, original performances of standard repertoire at super-bargain prices. Big-name companies should take note, for this is surely the way to attract the audience the music deserves.

FF



		With so much to link these two composers (and a double anniversary to boot), a coupling such as this one was inevitable. Yet even in a programme designed to present both in the same light (all the pieces recorded here are for double choir), the magisterial Roman and the mercurial Northerner remain polar opposites.



		The Schola Cantorum of Oxford are a mixed choir over three dozen strong. Such numbers perfectly suit Palestrina's robust, confident Mass; but Lassus's nervous lines and unstable textures call for brisker tempos and a more flexible approach, one that allows the quirkiness to intrude forcefully on to the music. Palestrina's Stabat mater is sung with only two voices to a part, and the gain in clarity and poise is immediately apparent. For Lassus, a compromise between full and chamber choir would have done the trick. The Bell'Amfitrit' Mass has already been recorded by such choirs as The Sixteen and St John's College, Cambridge; as for Palestrina's oft-recorded Mass, this is generally a more full-bodied account than that of King's College; and while McCreesh's baroque version of the work is perhaps the most convincing on its own terms, it places itself squarely outside the 'English a cappella tradition' embodied on this recording.



		Finally, and at the risk of betraying my prejudice, I note that there is more Palestrina on this disc than Lassus. Yet the latter's beautiful Stabat mater (also for double choir) would have been ideally placed alongside Palestrina's more famous setting. But enough quibbling: one can only applaud Naxos's commitment to fine, original performances of standard repertoire at super-bargain prices. Big-name companies should take note, for this is surely the way to attract the audience the music deserves.