Matthaeus Pipelare: Missa "L'homme armé"; Chansons; Motets

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The Huelgas Ensemble herein asserts itself as a leader in the preservation, interpretation and rediscovery of 15th-century music. Pipelare's music, employing imitative counterpoint, homophony, Phyrgian modes and "polyphonic melancholy," is spectacularly interpreted through Huelgas' impressive ability to raise drama from one vibrato-less core. The pièce de résistance is the Missa L'homme arme, with Ol' Man Profundo creating darkness of far- reaching beauty and spine-tingling chills, especially in the Credo's Amen. This recording from Belgium (the country of this magical music's origin) is ultra satisfying, the result of the exquisite ensemble unity, and a source of musical education thanks to Van Nevel's scholarly program notes. --Barbara Eisner Bayer

Amazon.com
Pipelare is another of the forgotten Flemish composers whose music has been revived by the Huelgas Ensemble. His Missa L'homme armé is based on a popular 15th-century tune (which served as the cantus firmus for Masses by, among others, Dufay, Ockeghem, Josquin, Tinctoris, and Palestrina). What distinguishes Pipelare's Mass is its extremely low tessitura, written for famously low Flemish basses. It's difficult for unaccompanied singers to stay in tune in that range- and the Huelgas... read more

Matthaeus Pipelare: Missa "L'homme armé"; Chansons; Motets

Tracks:

Laudemus Nunc Dominum
Virgo Parens Christi (Chant)
Kyrie
Gloria
Credo
Sanctus And Benedictus
Agnus Dei
Kyrie Paschale
O Beata Infantia
Inter Praeclarissimas Virtutes
Salve Sancta Facies/Homo Quidam
Credo De Sancto Johanne Evangelista

Ockeghem: Missa de plus en plus; 5 Motets

Average customer rating:

Beautiful sacred music, brilliantly performed
Idiomatic

Ockeghem: Missa de plus en plus; 5 Motets

Manufacturer: Gaudeamus
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Rondos | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

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

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

Renaissance (c.1450-1600) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Ockeghem: Missa L'homme Arme, Missa Sine Nomine a3
Ockeghem: Missa Au Travail Suis, Missa Sine Nomine a5
Jacob Obrecht: Missa Malheur Me Bat / Laudes Christo / Johannes Martini: Magnificat Tertii Toni / Ave Maris Stella / O Beate Sebastiane / Salve Regina - The Clerks' Group
Jacob Obrecht: Missa Sub Tuum Praesidium; Benedictus in laude; Salve Regina
Ockeghem: Missa Ecce Ancilla Domini

ASIN: B0000030OW
Release Date: 1996-11-19

Tracks:

Salve Regina
Missa 'De Plus En Plus': Kyrie
Missa 'De Plus En Plus': Gloria
Missa 'De Plus En Plus': Credo
Missa 'De Plus En Plus': Sanctus/Benedictus
Missa 'De Plus En Plus': Agnus Dei
De Plus En Plus
Credo 'De Village'
Osculetur Me
Gaude Maria

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful sacred music, brilliantly performed.......2005-12-27

Anyone intrigued by sacred vocal music of the early Renaissance - particularly the works of Guillaume Dufay (c. 1397-1474) and Josquin Desprez (c. 1450-1521) - would do well to explore this CD. Though not as well-known today as Dufay and Josquin, Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1410-1497) represented an essential stylistic link between those two composers. He extended imitative phrases beyond the short phrases employed by Dufay, but was almost too clever in doing so: Ockeghem integrated canons so well into his polyphony that they escaped listeners' ears. Josquin's works brought imitation to the fore, thereby capturing most of the credit for the technique known as "pervasive imitation." Josquin himself acknowledged Ockeghem's importance, commemorating his predecessor in the lament "La déploration de Jehan Ockegham."

The Clerks' Group endeavors to restore Ockeghem's reputation through their series of Ockeghem discs. This CD presents not only Ockeghem's "Missa de plus en plus," but also five motets by Ockeghem and other composers of the period. Works by Matthaeus Pipelare and Jacques Barbireau are performed, as well as "Plus en plus," the motet by Gilles Binchois (a contemporary of Dufay) on which Ockeghem based his Mass.

Dufay pioneered the technique of basing the Mass Ordinary on a pre-existing tenor (or "cantus firmus") from a secular source (as opposed to a Church-approved plainsong chant) with his "Missa se la face ay pale." The "cantus firmus" Mass dominated mid-15th century sacred music; and thus strongly influenced Ockeghem's works. Ockeghem also masters Dufay's technique of alternating different pairs of voices with full 4-part polyphony, to achieve contrasting textures. Ockeghem's music comes across as a gentler, smoother interpretation of Dufay's style, with the downward expansion of the lowest (bassus) voice representing Ockeghem's most readily apparent innovation.

The Clerks' Group performances excel, as do the production values. This is beautiful sacred music, brilliantly performed. I don't find "Missa de plus en plus" quite as impressive as Ockeghem's tour de force, "Missa Prolationum," but it's a remarkable achievement nonetheless.

The liner notes lament that modern critics "worship and canonise (Josquin) only by virtue of (their) total neglect of (Ockeghem)." If the rest of the Clerks' Group's Ockeghem series is as impressive as "Missa de plus en plus; 5 Motets," they will have gone a long way to right this perceived wrong.

Idiomatic.......2000-10-09

The Clerks' Group have earned their place in the early music hall of fame chiefly for their recordings of Ockeghem. No other group have been as consistently compelling in this repertory. Unlike the more conventional choirs, the Clerks' Group pay a lot of attention to the local flavor of polyphonic music. When it comes to performing Ockeghem, whose stylistic writing includes many local conventions, the ability to render local details accurately makes the difference between revelatory and mediocre. This disc is a special delight because of the beauty and relative accessibility of Missa De Plus en Plus, which forms the bulk of this recording. De Plus en Plus was one of Ockeghem's earlier masses. It alternates two- and four-part sections, achieving an almost hypnotic tide-like effect. The original De Plus en Plus tune is included for comparison (the tenor line from the original tune became the cantus firmus for the Mass). Of the fillers, Matthaeus Pipelare's Salve Regina is a gem. The final motet, Gaude Maria, is probably not by Ockeghem, but it is worthy to appear alongside the known Ockeghem's works. The group's singing is well-nigh flawless throughout. -- gggimpy@yahoo.com

Matthaeus Pipelare: Missa "L'homme armé"; Chansons; Motets

Average customer rating:

Will blow your socks off

Matthaeus Pipelare: Missa "L'homme armé"; Chansons; Motets

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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

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

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

General | Sacred & Religious | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

Opera & Vocal | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000002BZQ
Release Date: 1996-05-14

Tracks:

Vray dieu d'amours: Ballade
Een vrouelic wesen: Chanson
Fors Seulement: I. Chanson
Fors Seulement: II. Contrafactum with sacred text 'Exortum est in tenebris
Salve regina: Antiphon & 5
Memorare Mater Christi: Motet
I. Kyrie
Missa 'L'homme arme': II. Gloria
Missa 'L'homme arme': III. Credo
Missa 'L'homme arme': IV. Sanctus - Pleni sunt - Hosanna - Benedictus
Missa 'L'homme arme': V. Agnus Dei

Amazon.com

The Huelgas Ensemble herein asserts itself as a leader in the preservation, interpretation and rediscovery of 15th-century music. Pipelare's music, employing imitative counterpoint, homophony, Phyrgian modes and "polyphonic melancholy," is spectacularly interpreted through Huelgas' impressive ability to raise drama from one vibrato-less core. The pièce de résistance is the Missa L'homme arme, with Ol' Man Profundo creating darkness of far- reaching beauty and spine-tingling chills, especially in the Credo's Amen. This recording from Belgium (the country of this magical music's origin) is ultra satisfying, the result of the exquisite ensemble unity, and a source of musical education thanks to Van Nevel's scholarly program notes. --Barbara Eisner Bayer

Amazon.com

Pipelare is another of the forgotten Flemish composers whose music has been revived by the Huelgas Ensemble. His Missa L'homme armé is based on a popular 15th-century tune (which served as the cantus firmus for Masses by, among others, Dufay, Ockeghem, Josquin, Tinctoris, and Palestrina). What distinguishes Pipelare's Mass is its extremely low tessitura, written for famously low Flemish basses. It's difficult for unaccompanied singers to stay in tune in that range- and the Huelgas Ensemble doesn't succeed. The intonation is so woozy that it's difficult to tell if Pipelare's Mass is good music or not. That's disappointing, because there's no other Pipelare in the catalog. For the Huelgas Ensemble's finest revival of a forgotten composer, try their Manchicourt disc (SK 62694). --Matthew Westphal

Customer Reviews:

Will blow your socks off.......2005-07-08

Paul van Nevel revels in discovering yet another obscure Renaissance composer who is so good that he blows your socks right off. Just when you think there can't possibly be another hidden jem, van Nevel pulls another rabbit out of his hat. The show-stopper here is the "Memorare Mater Christi", which is a work so beautiful it just takes your breath away. In fact you could put it on the same level as the best from any of the other contemporary composers of Pipelare's generation such as Josquin, Obrecht, Isaac, de la Rue, Agricola, or for that matter Brumel, or Gombert amongst other Prima Prattica composers. In the original manuscript, each voice is called a 'dolor' to emphasise the mood of melancholy that dominates this work.

The CD concludes with another van Nevel speciality - the forgetten obscure L'homme armé mass. Of course he had to find one that is just stupendous like this with its basso profundo to die for.

Sony seems to be withdrawing the original releases of all of van Nevel/ Huelgas releases. Let's hope they are coming back out at mid price soon.

Average customer rating:

Missa Alleluia
Dirk Snellings
Manufacturer: Eufoda
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Motets | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000DG3D
Release Date: 1998-10-27

Tracks:

Salve Regina
Missa Alleluia: Kyrie
Missa Alleluia: Gloria
Gaude Virgo
Missa Alleluia: Credo
Huc me sidereo
Missa Alleluia: Sanctus
Missa Alleluia: Agnus Dei
Memorare, Mater Christi: Nunca fue pena mayor

Pipelare: Missa 'L'homme Arme'; Chanson [Germany]

Average customer rating:

Pipelare: Missa 'L'homme Arme'; Chanson [Germany]
Van Nevel , and Huelgas Ensemble
Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00005KKO6
Release Date: 2002-04-29