Ockeghem: Missa Cuiusvis Toni / Missa Quinti Toni

Editorial Reviews
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Edward Wickham and the Clerks' Group have changed their tune (as it were) since beginning their Ockeghem series in 1994. In earlier recordings such as the Missa Mi-Mi and the Gramophone Award-winning Requiem, their sound was typical of the English style of early-music performance made world-famous by the Tallis Scholars: clear, smoothly blended voices and a reverent but somewhat reserved approach clearly indebted to Anglican church tradition. Five years on, they're using a throatier vocal tone and more energetic tempos. Whatever they're losing in meditative beauty, they're making up in vigor--Wickham's Ockeghem is definitely not the dusty old cerebralist heard in undergraduate music history courses. Alongside the three-voice Missa Quinti Toni and the low-pitched, possibly apocryphal motet Celeste Beneficium (in a marvelous one-voice-per-part performance), this disc presents the Missa Cuiusvis Toni ("Mass in whatever mode you wish"), one of the works that cemented Ockeghem's reputation as the Renaissance's musical puzzlemaster. ("Major" and "minor" are modern-day modes; Ockeghem designed this Mass so that it could be sung in different modes, depending on which note the singers start on.) ASV and the Clerks' Group give us the entire Mass in the Phrygian mode (a solemn-sounding scale with no modern equivalent) and, for contrast, the Kyrie and Agnus Dei in Mixolydian (similar to a major key). Now if only a brave choir and record label would record this Mass in all four of the main modes--it would fit (barely) on one CD, make a good illustration for music history students, and fascinate early-music buffs. --Matthew Westphal

Ockeghem: Missa Cuiusvis Toni / Missa Quinti Toni, Music, Johannes Ockeghem, Clerks' Group, Edward Wickham, Choral, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Early Music / Chant, Miscellaneous, Renaissance Mass
Ockeghem: Missa Cuiusvis Toni / Missa Quinti Toni
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Ockgehem the way it should be
  • A delight for either a novice or a connoisseur
 Ockeghem: Missa Cuiusvis Toni / Missa Quinti Toni
Johannes Ockeghem , Clerks' Group , and Edward Wickham
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
MassesMasses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Renaissance (c.1450-1600)Renaissance (c.1450-1600) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Similar Items:
  1. Ockeghem: Requiem; Missa Fors Seulement
  2. Ockeghem: Missa Mi-Mi
  3. Obrecht: Missa Caput; Salve Regina
  4. Ockeghem: Missa L'homme Arme, Missa Sine Nomine a3
  5. Ockeghem: Missa Prolationum: 5 Motets

ASIN: B00000IM6L
Release Date: 1999-04-13

Tracks:

  1. Miss Cuiusvis Toni: Kyrie in fa-ut
  2. Miss Cuiusvis Toni: Kyrie on mi
  3. Miss Cuiusvis Toni: Gloria on mi
  4. Missa Cuiusvis Toni: Credo On Mi (Phrygian)
  5. Missa Cuiusvis Toni: Sanctus And Benedictus On Mi (Phrygian)
  6. Missa Cuiusvis Toni: Agnus Dei On Mi (Phrygian)
  7. Miss Cuiusvis Toni: Agnus Dei on fa-ut
  8. Celeste Beneficium
  9. Missa Quinti Toni: Kyrie
  10. Missa Quinti Toni: Gloria
  11. Missa Quinti Toni: Credo
  12. Missa Quinti Toni: Sanctus and Benedictus
  13. Missa Quinti Toni: Agnus Dei

Amazon.com

Edward Wickham and the Clerks' Group have changed their tune (as it were) since beginning their Ockeghem series in 1994. In earlier recordings such as the Missa Mi-Mi and the Gramophone Award-winning Requiem, their sound was typical of the English style of early-music performance made world-famous by the Tallis Scholars: clear, smoothly blended voices and a reverent but somewhat reserved approach clearly indebted to Anglican church tradition. Five years on, they're using a throatier vocal tone and more energetic tempos. Whatever they're losing in meditative beauty, they're making up in vigor--Wickham's Ockeghem is definitely not the dusty old cerebralist heard in undergraduate music history courses. Alongside the three-voice Missa Quinti Toni and the low-pitched, possibly apocryphal motet Celeste Beneficium (in a marvelous one-voice-per-part performance), this disc presents the Missa Cuiusvis Toni ("Mass in whatever mode you wish"), one of the works that cemented Ockeghem's reputation as the Renaissance's musical puzzlemaster. ("Major" and "minor" are modern-day modes; Ockeghem designed this Mass so that it could be sung in different modes, depending on which note the singers start on.) ASV and the Clerks' Group give us the entire Mass in the Phrygian mode (a solemn-sounding scale with no modern equivalent) and, for contrast, the Kyrie and Agnus Dei in Mixolydian (similar to a major key). Now if only a brave choir and record label would record this Mass in all four of the main modes--it would fit (barely) on one CD, make a good illustration for music history students, and fascinate early-music buffs. --Matthew Westphal

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Ockgehem the way it should be.......2000-06-17

Luminous lush sound. All of the discs in this series, especially this one, are excellent. The Clerkes Group give the Tallis Scholars a run for their money. Buy this disc!

5 out of 5 stars A delight for either a novice or a connoisseur.......1999-11-26

This is one of the most intriguing early music recordings in my fairly vast collection. This CD is an example not only of superb singing, but also of spatial puzzles that inhabit some of early music compositions. The Clerks brilliantly bring one of these puzzles to light by singing the movements of Missa Cuiusvis Toni in two of its possible four tones. Here I join with Matthew Westphal in wishing that somebody devote an entire CD just to this mass and record it on all four of its possible tones. The Clerks give an exquisite performance. They represent the technique of ensemble singing at its best. They don't have singers of the caliber of David James, Rogers Covey-Crump or Charles Daniels (except for Robin Blaze who is getting increasingly busy with his solo career), but the Clerks nevertheless rival the Hilliard and the Orlando Consort. In truth, the comparisons are out of place - the Clerks, with their unique pastel blend, are nobody's copycats. Make sure you try their recordings (but hold on to your Hilliard for Ockeghem's Missa Prolationum and Requiem). My e-mail: gkolomietz@yahoo.com

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