Ockeghem: Missa Caput, Missa Ma Maistresse, 3 Motets / The Clerks' Group, Wickham

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This isn't merely one of the best Ockeghem records around, it's one of the most valuable. Neither of these Masses has been recorded before, and they challenge the stereotype of Ockeghem the cerebral old mystic writing dense, demanding music. A relatively high tessitura and lively rhythms make the Missa Ma maistresse, based on one of Ockeghem's own chansons (also recorded here, and quite nicely), seem almost cheery. (Sadly, only the Kyrie and Gloria have survived.) The rather more serene Missa Caput is one of several late-15th-century Masses (Obrecht wrote another) based on a lengthy plainchant fragment (set to the word "caput") from the Maundy Thursday liturgy; they all follow in the footsteps of a popular 15th-century English Mass based on the same chant melody. With somewhat quicker tempos and more pointed phrasing than most other choirs use in this repertory, Wickham and the Clerks' Group make Ockeghem's music seem a real pleasure both to sing and to hear--an accomplishment at least as valuable as having recorded these two beautiful Masses for the first time. --Matthew Westphal

Ockeghem: Missa Caput, Missa Ma Maistresse, 3 Motets / The Clerks' Group, Wickham, Music, Anonymous, Johannes Ockeghem, Sarum Chant, Edward Wickham, The Clerks' Group, Chanson, Choral, Choral Music, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Early Music / Chant, Renaissance Mass, Vocal, Vocal Music
Ockeghem: Missa Caput, Missa Ma Maistresse, 3 Motets / The Clerks' Group, Wickham
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • Previous (vinyl) recordings.
  • Definitely not my favorite...
  • A pleasant surprise
  • Slight correction
 Ockeghem: Missa Caput, Missa Ma Maistresse, 3 Motets / The Clerks' Group, Wickham
Edward Wickham , and The Clerks' Group
Manufacturer: Gaudeamus
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Vocal & SongVocal & Song | Early Music | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music | Requiems
Sacred & ReligiousSacred & Religious | Renaissance (c.1450-1600) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Classical | Styles | Music
GeneralGeneral | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ChansonsChansons | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
MassesMasses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Renaissance (c.1450-1600)Renaissance (c.1450-1600) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B00000DMJI
Release Date: 1998-11-17

Tracks:

  1. Kyrie
  2. Gloria
  3. Ma Maistresse
  4. A Solis Ortus Cardine
  5. O Sidus Hispanie
  6. Gaude Maria
  7. Venit Ad Petrum
  8. Kyrie
  9. Gloria
  10. Credo
  11. Sanctus/Benedictus
  12. Agnus Dei

Amazon.com

This isn't merely one of the best Ockeghem records around, it's one of the most valuable. Neither of these Masses has been recorded before, and they challenge the stereotype of Ockeghem the cerebral old mystic writing dense, demanding music. A relatively high tessitura and lively rhythms make the Missa Ma maistresse, based on one of Ockeghem's own chansons (also recorded here, and quite nicely), seem almost cheery. (Sadly, only the Kyrie and Gloria have survived.) The rather more serene Missa Caput is one of several late-15th-century Masses (Obrecht wrote another) based on a lengthy plainchant fragment (set to the word "caput") from the Maundy Thursday liturgy; they all follow in the footsteps of a popular 15th-century English Mass based on the same chant melody. With somewhat quicker tempos and more pointed phrasing than most other choirs use in this repertory, Wickham and the Clerks' Group make Ockeghem's music seem a real pleasure both to sing and to hear--an accomplishment at least as valuable as having recorded these two beautiful Masses for the first time. --Matthew Westphal

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars Previous (vinyl) recordings........2006-09-20

With regard to the group that recorded the Missa Ma Maistresse (above)--

It is the Pomerium Musices, directed by Alexander Blachly. And yes, the Missa Caput (which several scholars consider to be a canonical work) was recorded on vinyl by Planchart et al.

3 out of 5 stars Definitely not my favorite..........2004-02-22

Ockeghem is one of my favorite composers and I have highly praised elsewhere his "Missa de plus en plus" by the Orlando Consort.

I have found this recording by the Clerk's Group pleasant enough but it is nevertheless definitely not the kind of cd I would take to a hypothetical desert island if I could only take a few belongings to my place of exile.

This performance lacks vigour, emotion and a good acoustics. I wouldn't know which characterization is the most accurate but I suspect that lack of first-rate acoustics accounts for the dry quality of the sound of this recording.

Most pieces are sung by only two or three voices and as a result you don't find in this performance the radiant and powerful quality of other late medieval or Renaissance choral music that bathe you in an blissful and exalted ocean of sound. Some of the pieces are so slow that they almost become soporific.

If you really love late medieval and Renaissance music I think you should really look elsewhere. I recommend "The Essential Tallis Scholars" , "Perotin" by the Hilliard Ensemble, Desprez's "Missa Pangue Lingua" by the Organum Ensemble and any of the gorgeous Venetian masses (coronation, Christmas and Easter masss) by the Gabrieli Consort under the direction of McCreesh.

The duration of "Ockeghem: Missa Caput, Missa Ma Maistresse, 3 Motets / The Clerks' Group, Wickham" is a little more than one hour. The Clerk's Group is a small mixed choir (but on this cd you hear mostly the male voices).

5 out of 5 stars A pleasant surprise.......2001-11-05

I recently had the opportunity to hear The Clerks' Group in concert at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., in an acoustically superb auditorium. While I enjoy medieval music in infrequent doses, this is a group I could listen to virtually non-stop. They sang several selections from this outstanding CD -- enough to let me know this was a disc I not only wanted but needed for my music library. The Masses are hauntingly beautiful as are the motets, and I especially find them a way to relax after a strenuous day or week producing our 155 year old weekly newspaper. The Clerks' Group and their exquisite sound was a pleasant surprise -- in person and on CD.

5 out of 5 stars Slight correction.......1999-01-12

I was delighted to see an online review of this fine recording, and I have little to add to it except for two minor factual corrections. There was an earlier recording, released on vinyl in the U.S. on Nonesuch, of the Missa Ma Maitresse, (a very good recording that also included some rarely heard motets... I forget the name of the performers), and the Capella Cordina or possibly the earlier Yale group under Alejandro Planchart recorded the Missa Caput, to contrast the Dufay composition on the same concept. Planchart claims that the Caput is definitely apocryphal, but I gather that is somewhat controversial.

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