Palestrina: Missa Pro Defunctis/Motets

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
No question, this choir has a sound like no other, and it's primarily due to the fact that the all-male group uses men to sing true soprano parts. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. This disc is a perfect example of what happens when everything goes right. While the opening short five-part motet Gaude gloriosa is beautiful, wait until you hear the almost unimaginable richness of the voices at the beginning of the Missa pro defunctis. It's hard to believe that this is pure, unenhanced choral singing, but it is. And it's a thrilling sound that resonates deep within. These singers perform with an expressive style that's perhaps more of the 20th century than the music will easily accept, but there's no real harm in allowing the soul that lives in the present to express itself, especially in music so sincere in its blend of the spiritual and sensual. --David Vernier

Tracks:

Taedet animam meam
Introitus
Kyrie
Domine quando veneris
Graduale
Libera me Domine
Tractus
Ad Dominum cum tribularer clamavi
Sequentia
Offertorium
Peccantem me quotidie
Sanctus - Benedictus
Heu mihi Domine
Agnus Dei
Communio
Libera me Domine

Amazon.com

Assuming his patronage has not yet been assigned, St. Gerold should be considered the patron saint of echo. The Monastery of St. Gerold, in which this collection was recorded, adds a solid second of sonic life--and, as a result, extended reflection--to everything sung by the members of the esteemed Hilliard Ensemble. When the quartet of male vocalists join in unison on a brief "Kyrie," the sanctum's heavenly reverberation mirrors their vocal line like a geometrically precise hall of mirrors. And when the group's members (countertenor, two tenors, and baritone) move into the tentative intricacies of early polyphonic composition, light is shed on the venture's complexity. Not only must the singers balance each other's tone and timing, they must take into consideration the amplification and delay of the music's traditional performance space. The Hilliards have recorded several discs of Palestrina and music of this period (early 16th century). This one has in its favor the presence of settings of related texts by another composer, Tomás Luis de Victoria (two decades Palestrina's junior). Comparing the two helps in the familiarization of music the quiet beauty of which can be mistaken for homogeneity only by a casual listener. The selections--drawn from each composer's respective settings of the Requiem or parts of the Office for the Dead--are interspersed with plainsong chants from the Graduale Romanum, through which the disc attempts to reconstruct the original context in which these pieces by Palestrina and Victoria would have been heard. --Marc Weidenbaum

Customer Reviews:

One of the finest of all recordings by the Hilliard Ensemble.......2005-07-23

Of the many recordings by the Hilliard Ensemble few that I recall have been as deeply memorable as this one. Usually I must confess to preferring other composers of the Renaissance but when Palestrina is played like he is here resistance becomes futile. Of course the Victoria sounds wonderful too but it is the Palestrina here that really got under my skin. In fact I can scarcely think of any recordings of music by Palestrina that I have found as deeply affecting and memorable as the motets recorded here. The whole recording is conceived as a liturgical reconstruction of an Office for the Dead with chant sections from the Graduale Romanum from Toul in France being used as an example of typical post-Council of Trent reforms.

The coverslip notes are also very good and thorough. The majority of it is written authoritatively in English although there is an untranslated section in German. The German notes by Uwe Schweikert, entitled 'Listen with the Ears of the Heart', is basically a history of the origins of the Requiem Mass from early Romanesque origins through Ockeghem and all the way onwards to Mozart and Verdi. I must say the description of the Latin Requiem as once having been a musical 'Gesamtkunstwerk' (sic) is a bit over-the-top! Schweikert concludes with a brief background to the musical careers of Palestrina and Victoria. The description of Palestrina is however particularly memorable: "The principle of this style is the minutely woven, extremely discreet compositional calculation on all levels of the musical structure." Victoria is characterised as a typical Spanish Counter-Reformation mystic. I like the point that in the post-Council of Trent period of reformation, both composers make full use of "expressive, highly melismatically formed Gregorian chant melodies" which "tie the score of Palestrina and Victoria together". So if you don't read German that's basically what the text says - thank goodness the English and German notes don't contradict each other. Don't laugh - this is exactly what happens on a Deutsche Gramophon issue I own.

For some reason published reviews of this recording are scant and how it managed to slip through almost unnoticed without winning any deserved awards is beyond me but David Vernier somehow managed to get a copy for review on Classicstoday online. His conclusions were:

"The Hilliards once again have proven that as interpreters of early vocal music, they are uniquely qualified. This is communication on the highest level, both among the group members and with an ever appreciative and satisfied audience."

He gave it a 10/10 rating for performance/recording with the comment that "you will hear music and singing that's as close to the disc's title, In Paradisum, as you will get on earth".

The excellent recorded sound coupled with some of the finest Palestrina and Victoria I have ever heard combine for an unforgettable recording that every lover of Renaissance polyphony will want to hear.

Vintage Hilliard Ensemble.......2004-02-12

This is a very special recording. I have a large collection of recordings of Renaissance music, but few are as breathtaking and touching as this one. Even by the exalted standards of this great vocal quartet, it must be counted a triumph.

One often hears the music of Palestrina and Victoria referred to as the "grand style" of Renaissance music: measured, big, and slightly impersonal. Not here. Here it is intimate, immensely moving, and seems to be a living thing. The ensemble singing is so perfect you can almost hear the singers listening to one another, as one voice after another ventures out into the darkness, only to be met by another. And rather than marching on to their preordained destinations, they seem to feel one another's presence. The attention and responsiveness of the singers is dazzling.

There is, in fact, an element of tentativeness in these interpretations, as though the music is being improvised and negotiated on the spot. I hear, above all, a sense of discovery: discovery of the simple beauty of voices sounding together in harmony.

The austere, intimate beauty of the polyphonic pieces is only enhanced by having them interpolate between sections of Gregorian chant. And, let it be said, even the chant sections are rendered with great care and feeling.

Though I think this one of the greatest recordings of the past decade, it seems to have passed quietly below the radar screen of award competitions. Perhaps it is just as well; this music will find its listeners. The Penguin Guide complains about the atmosphere of "doom and gloom", which is an embarrassing misapprehension on their part. The voices emerge from the darkness, true enough, and that impression is uncannily portrayed. They are singing a funeral rite, true enough, and they would be remiss if they did not bring to the music an element of sadness. But the result is poignant and luminous. This recording is one of the great glories of recorded sound.

I'm torn by this recording.......2000-06-10

As usual, a few words on the music is in order. The pieces sung are of the highest quality - the Requiems of Palestrina and Victoria are among the best ever written and are pinnacles of Renaissance art (and all art for that matter). Also, the chant lends an appropriate sense of worship to the rest of the pieces. The Hilliard Ensemble is one of my favorite early music groups. Their tone quality, depth, warmth, and balance are excellent. Nowhere is their skill better displayed than in the immaculately sung Taedet anima mea on this recording. It is taken much more slowly than by other groups, is sung in the original, untransposed pitch, and of course the aforementioned qualities of the ensemble's singing shine through. The quality of the music sung and the quality of the singing are not in question here. So why am I torn? Well I'll explain. Victoria's Requiem mass is scored for six voices, and the Libera Me, recorded here is not an exception - the scoring is for six voices (I checked - but please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, which I don't think I am). Palestrina's Requiem is scored for 5 voices (and I haven't checked, but the Libera Me should be as well unless a different voicing is adopted for that section). The Hilliard Ensemble, though, is made up of four singers. The notes do not mention, and my somewhat experienced ear does not hear, additional voices in the above mentioned sections (once again I could be wrong). The only conclusion that I can come the ensemble simply left out parts which they did not have the voices to sing. That decision is hard for me to reconcile on an artistic level, and as a listener I cannot enjoy the bare sound of the harmony which results from their being stripped of some parts. Another objection I have is one I've never had to make before. The liner notes contain, instead of one section of notes translated into multiple languages, various DIFFERENT notes in English and German. There is a section in English, followed by a German section which does not say the same thing as the previous English one, then another English section, and that's it. I don't know much German but it's obvious that the text represented is not the same as the English. Furthermore, the notes contain some quotations from various sources, many of which are not in English and are not accompanied by English translations. I can't think of any reason that this random, haphazrd approach was taken. I would very much like to know what the German section and the French quotations say. Anyway, that anomaly does not detract from the importance of this recording. There is much excellent singing here, despite some strange and even worrisome phenomena. Recommended...

Mystery and Detachment.......2000-06-06

Here we have unadorned beauty shorn of self-conscious and extrovert notions of performance and virtuosity. The result is music imbued with a sense of mystery and detachment from the world. The Hilliard Ensemble provides an exquisite reading of the plainsong melodies of the Requiem. They alternate these with simple imitative polyphonic settings of responsory texts from the Office of the Dead or the Burial Service. The acoustics of the monastery of St Gerold provide a wondrous balance of focussed sound and upholstered tone, along with a lingering echo. One cannot help but to fall in love with such high loveliness. The recording opens with a haunting rendition of Victoria's 4-part "Taedet animam meam". For these few minutes alone, it is worth owning the CD. Few recordings manage to convey the quiet beauty and power of a large section of Renaissance music which may, at first sight, not seem to be much on paper. This recording equals, and in some instances surpasses, the ethereal sound of the 1987 Tallis Scholars recording of Victoria's Requiem. I have only one problem. The blurb by Ivan Moody requires a response: even Renaissance sacred music has beauty and value which demand an anthropocentric, "secular" appreciation. It is rather tedious to have experts with anachronistic liturgical axes to grind!

Take me to Europe...quick..........2000-05-21

The French music of Palestrina and Victoria continues to be some of the most beautiful and music from the 17th century. Based on themes of absolution and redemption, IN PARADISUM shows the close relationship between chant and vocal polyphony in liturgical music during a time of continuous compositional flux. Set largely on texts from the Graduale Romanum (1627), the formidable Hilliard Ensemble presents this music with a delicate sense of authority and control. Combining plain chant with song, the ensemble explores the similarities of these styles on one recording. These two composers, under scrutiny by the Council of Trent, were encouraged to produce musical settings that enhanced the intelligibility of sung text. Using homophonic and syllabic word-settings, these compositions reflect the major changes in the use of Gregorian chant at the time. With many composers using freer rhythms and exploring emotionally expressive elements of music and liturgy, a trend was born. Represented here are extraordinary melismas and solemn melodies, filled with passionate undertones of longing and despair. Through these new interpretations, Palestrina and Victoria's music will remain timeless in the modern age. For the Hilliard Ensemble, it is another marvelous recording worthy of the highest praises.

Average customer rating:

Beautiful
Out of the Hall and into the Church
heaven sent
Flawless singing...very engaging
Very good program

Palestrina: Missa Pro Defunctis/Motets
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina , Christopher Fritzsche , Corey McKnight , David Shaler , Joseph Jennings , Kenneth Fitch , David Munderloh , Douglas Wright , and Kevin Baum
Manufacturer: Teldec
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Masses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Motets | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Renaissance (c.1450-1600) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B000000SNJ
Release Date: 1994-10-04

Tracks:

Gaude gloriosa a 5
Missa pro defunctis a 5: Introitus: Requiem aeternam
Missa pro defunctis a 5: Kyrie
Missa pro defunctis a 5: Offertorium: Domine Jesu Christe
Missa pro defunctis a 5: Sanctus & Benedictus
Missa pro defunctis a 5: Agnus Dei
Salve regina a 5
Pange lingua a 4
O bone Jesu a 6
Canticum Canticorum: Trahe me a 5
Canticum Canticorum: Nigra sum, sed formosa a 5
Canticum Canticorum: Surge, propera a 5
Canticum Canticorum: Surge, amica mea a 5
Canticum Canticorum: Quam pulchra es a 5
Canticum Canticorum: Veni, dilecte mi a 5
Gaude, Barbara a 5

Amazon.com

No question, this choir has a sound like no other, and it's primarily due to the fact that the all-male group uses men to sing true soprano parts. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. This disc is a perfect example of what happens when everything goes right. While the opening short five-part motet Gaude gloriosa is beautiful, wait until you hear the almost unimaginable richness of the voices at the beginning of the Missa pro defunctis. It's hard to believe that this is pure, unenhanced choral singing, but it is. And it's a thrilling sound that resonates deep within. These singers perform with an expressive style that's perhaps more of the 20th century than the music will easily accept, but there's no real harm in allowing the soul that lives in the present to express itself, especially in music so sincere in its blend of the spiritual and sensual. --David Vernier

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful.......2002-09-30

What a beautiful and ethereal quality CD. It is great as background music when reading or as a meditation source. Excellent.

Out of the Hall and into the Church.......2002-09-22

In the context of the somber austerity of the Funeral Rites of the Catholic Church, Palestrina illustrates that even sorrow can be made into a thing of beauty. He has taken the simple melodies of the chanted Requiem and encrusted them in lush tonalities, without making an overblown production and turning the whole event into a concert (q.v. Verdi "Requiem"). The Requiem is precisely not that...it is to be a comfort and a solace...something familiar and comfortable...someday it will be our turn in the box. For the student of Gregorian Chant the familiar chants can be easily discerned throughout and indeed served as the basis of this setting. In this instance Palestrina shows that he is willing to follow the decrees of the Council of Trent regarding the clarity of the text, while his selections from the Canticle of Canticles (also on this recording) is in the more florid (and less wod-based) style. This recording illustrates how such a knowledge of Chant is vital to the correct interpretation of this genre of music...without an understanding of the ancient sources the performance can become muddled and operatic.Unlike Verdi, Palestrina is a believer and this colors his music. He has understood that music is one of the tools which can elevate the mind towards God...music is the means, not the end.
Oddly enough, the true gem in this recording is not the Requiem. Palestrina's setting of the "Pange Lingua" shows how polyphony can be used with chant. The verses alternate between chant and polyphony, but even the polyphony is based upon the chant...just listen to the First verse "Pange" in ployphony and then the second "Nobis" and listen closely...you will notice what I mean. The first time that I heard this version (and being both a student of music and now a student of theology, I have heard many ... renditions of this poetic hymn) I was overcome and had to listen to it again, precisely because the use of chant is incorporated so perfectly by the composer. It was one of those moments where you know stop and say "wow". The goal in our day is to use these settings for their intended purpose...to remove them from the concert hall and to reinstate them in church. Hats off to Chanticleer for another well-executed disc.

heaven sent.......2001-09-14

There is little to add, this music is an example of musics "inner life"; it would be good done by any competent group of singers. Chanticleer comes along,like Prince Charming and kisses it to life. I have had this recording for years now; it joined a collection of requiems, glorias, te deums, psalms, cantatas and other choral works that I really like. That this cd, twelve voices, should take precedence, in my mind, over some of the greatest liturgical pieces in the catalog amazes me until I realise what it is that makes such a powerful impression. It is the difference between a glass of crystal clear cold water and a tin cup of lukewarm water. It is alive. I'm an old coot; I've been collecting records for 60 years and like mosr people I'm opiniated enough to reject some things out of hand- things like a capella singing for instance. When I heard the first piece on the cd, "Gaude Glorioso" I was bamboozled. I played it several times trying to find something wrong with it. As it progressed I capitulated upon the requiem. I hesitate to bandy words like "greatest" but it's tempting to hang that banner on this music. Of a couple of thousand cd's this is the one I return to over and over. It is,to me, the very apotheosis of music in the service of spirituality. I have serious reservations about religion but this stuff speaks to me with a loud voice. I have the pleasure of having met and talked with the singers and I asked one of them whether or not he ever felt aware of just how good they were and he shook his head. Evidently the requirement is humility before the music and to rehearse until you get it right. This they do. Listen to the "Sanctus". No organ, no orchestra, only twelve voices to fill the musical heavens.

Flawless singing...very engaging.......2000-10-03

After listening to all of the Tallis Scholars' Palestrina recordings (I got their boxed set!), It was such a joy to hear these 12 gentlemen sing this requiem mass. The blend was warmer, and moves closer to the heart of the listener...but they were able to execute it in such a way that it doesn't become too "romantic." The veneer of the distant, aloof renaissance spirit is still there.

Palestrina's requiem mass is an absolute beauty, I wonder why it doesn't figure prominently alongside his other mass settings. And the opening track, I just had to listen to that like 10 straight times!

This album is SUPERBLY recorded! I somehow wish the Tallis Scholars were recorded this way. Done in a space that provides just enough resonance but without the usual, annoying echo. The 2nd track, the requiem gregorian chant is so "live." I've always felt it was the perfect recording of a gregorian chant. Very clear, very somber, very "old." This single track moved me to get Chanticleer's Mysteria album.

This album will not disappoint you. You get Palestrina's beautiful requiem, and clear, warm (not shrill) voices, recorded in a great way!

Very good program.......2000-06-10

The choice of pieces to record here is various. Chanticleer puts to disc not only Palestrina's Requiem, but also various motets, a number from the Canticum canticorum (the sensuous texts of which are allegorical for love for Christ). O Bone Jesu (one of Palestrina's most popular and most recorded pieces) is here. The hymn Pange Lingua (the verses of which alternate between plainchant and polyphony) is a favorite of mine as well. The chant itself is one of those treasures of the chant tradition. Furthermore it is the basis for some stunning vocal parts in the polyphonic verses. Another setting of the Tantum Ergo text (a section of the Pange Lingua hymn), which uses this same chant as a basis, is one of my favorite Palestrina pieces... but that's another story. The singing here is of the highest quality. Chanticleer produces a smooth, warm, slightly bright tone which is most pleasing. They sing with excellent balance and as a result the symmetry and elegance of the individual vocal lines comes through clearly. In interpretive terms, I'm not sure if I completely agree with their approach. The requiem at times seems to lack a sense of the profundity of the context the piece was written for. Admittedly Palestrina's requiem is not a dark piece, but is also not a Canticum canticorum motet (I make that comparison because the singing in the Reuquiem and the joyful motets often sound the same). But don't get me wrong - the singing of O Bone Jesu demonstrates clearly that Chanticleer is capable of sobriety and supplication. The program here is not as unified as some, but it seems that Chanticleer has chosen a wide variety of pieces intentionally - they highlight the wide range of feeling contained in Palestrina's pieces. Highly recommended...

Average customer rating:

a voice teacher and early music fan

Palestrina: Missa Pro Defunctis; Motets
Chanticleer
Manufacturer: Elatus
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B000088DTG
Release Date: 2006-05-18

Tracks:

Gaude Gloriosa
Missa Pro Defunctis
Salve Regina
Pange Lingue
O Bone Jesu
Canticum Canticorum: Trahe Me
Canticum Canticorum: Nigra Sum, Sed Formosa
Canticum Canticorum: Surge, Propera
Canticum Canticorum: Surge, Amica Mea
Canticum Canticorum: Quam Pulchra Es
Canticum Canticorum: Veni, Dilecti Mi
Gaude, Barbara

Customer Reviews:

a voice teacher and early music fan.......2007-01-16

From the moment when, at the age of eleven, Giovanno Pierluigi da Palestrina became a choir boy at Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, until he died, the church was a permanent backdrop for the drama of his life,-now it was the Sistine chapel, now a simple country place of worship, but always a house of God.
Palestrina's compositions display purity and clarity, comparative brevity and simplicity; polyphony used with judicious reserve, the banishing of secular elements from his music.
The genre of the "Missa pro defunctis" (requiem mass) , so-called because it begins with the plainchant 'Requiem aeternam' (Eternal rest), flourished during Palestrina's lifetime. His source for the melodic materials of his mass highlights the relationship between his melodic idiom and plainchant in a way similar to many his motets. Without exception, he adapts the most prominant melodies from the plainchants for the Requiem Mass, offering each imitatively through the five-voice texture so that the same motives are heard in overlapping succession from voice to voice.
The "Pange lingua", a hymn setting with its odd-numbered stanzas performed polyphonically and its even ones in plainchant, was sung at the feast of Corpus Christi throughout Catholicism.
Palestrina composed 'Gaude Barbara' for his patron Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga. It is a motet commemorating the virtues of St. Barbara.
"O bone Jesu", a tender supplication to Christ, recalls us briefly to contemplation of death.
The "Song of Songs" is an allegory of Christ's intimacy with the one 'true' (Roman) Church. In this motet Palestrina adopts a more madrigalian idiom, but nothing could be more appropriate for these words that remain, at some irreducible level, settings of love poetry.
Chanticleer is a full-time professional 'a cappella' ensemble based in the U.S., and has developed a remarkable reputation for its interpretation of vocal literature, from Renaissance to jazz. The ensemble takes its name from the rooster in Chaucer's Canturbury Tales.
There are (on this disc) five countertenors, three tenors, two baritones, one bass-baritone and one bass. Their rendition of the Palestrina music is perfection!!!! For those of you who enjoy this early music composer, this listening experience would be truly memorable.