Cristóbal de Morales: Officium defunctorum & Missa pro Defunctis

Track Listings

1. Officium Defunctorum: Ad Matutinum: Circumdederunt Me Gemitus Mortis

2. Officium Defunctorum: Invitatorium: Regem Cui Omnia Vivunt/Psalmus 94: Venite, Exultemus Domino

3. Officium Defunctorum: In Primo Nocturno: Versiculum: A Porta Infieri/Lectio I (Job 7 16-21): Parce M

4. Officium Defunctorum: In Primo Nocturno: Lectio II (Job 10, 1-7): Taedet Animam Meam Vitae

5. Officium Defunctorum: In Primo Nocturno: Lectio III (Job 10, 8-12): Manus Tuas

6. Officium Defunctorum: In Secundo Nocturno: Versiculum: Collocet Eos Cum Principibus/Responsorium...

7. Missa Pro Defunctis: Introitus

8. Missa Pro Defunctis: Kyrie

9. Missa Pro Defunctis: Graduale

10. Missa Pro Defunctis: Sequentia

11. Missa Pro Defunctis: Offertorium: Domine Jesu Christe V. Hostias Et Preces

12. Missa Pro Defunctis: Sanctus

13. Missa Pro Defunctis: Benedictus

14. Missa Pro Defunctis: Agnus Dei

15. Missa Pro Defunctis: Communio: Lux Aeterna V. Requiem Aeternam

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Jordi Savall and his musicians recreate the starkly beautiful funeral music sung in Mexico City in 1559 at memorial ceremonies for Emperor Charles V. They perform Morales's score with a complement of cornet, sacbuts, and viols doubling the voices. (This was regularly done in 16th-century Spanish cathedrals; whether it was done at funerals is less clear.) Savall and his musicians are sensitive; and fascinating in the plainchant sequence Dies iræ, which is done with parallel fifths and similar embellishments. Ultimately, however, Savall is overly swayed by the music's simplicity: He makes Morales's music sound like the sort of austere workmanship one must admire but can rarely enjoy (like Shaker furniture or macrobiotic cuisine). --Matthew Westphal --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Tracks:

Parce mihi domine
Primo tempore
Sanctus
Regnantem sempiterna
O salutaris hostia
Procedentem sponsum
Pulcherrima rosa
Parce mihi domine
Beata viscera
De spineto nata rosa
Credo
Ave maris stella
Virgo flagellatur
Oratio Ieremiae
Parce mihi domine

Amazon.com essential recording

"What is this music?" Fundamentally, it's an exploration of what happens when an improvisatory instrumental voice (saxophone) is placed into the world of early vocal music, which has elements of both improvisation and formal structure. In reality, it's an adventure in which the four male voices of the Hilliard Ensemble travel the 14th- and 15th-century territory of Morales and Dufay, visit the 12th century of Perotin, and roam even earlier ages of plainchant, accompanied by the always sensitive and tasteful, often astonishing, saxophone improvisations of jazz master Jan Garbarek. Sometimes, these new melodies simply accompany; sometimes they transform the common--a routine minor chord, for instance--into a sublime, indescribable moment. The answer to the above question is easy, but it's different for each listener. --David Vernier

Customer Reviews:

Original, Brilliant, but Flawed.......2007-03-24

I'm a big fan both of Garbarek and of "early music", so I bought this album with enthusiasm when it first came out a decade ago. I wasn't disappointed, but I do find it uneven. Garbarek was experimenting throughout the process of recording this work, and some of his ideas are better than others. I understand completely those who complain about the soprano sax not blending well with the vocals - there are tracks where it's just too up-front and edgy to fit into the mix. But the tracks where the sax is recorded from further away, particularly those where a tenor sax is used, are absolutely sublime. For those moments, it deserves more than 4 stars. For the moments where the soprano sax is too shrill, I'd take off a fraction of a point if I could, but if I've got to call it a "4" or a "5", I'd give it a 5.

Great vocals but saxophone has to go!.......2007-03-19

This cd has extremely beautiful vocals and chants that conjure up sublime images of baronial castles, knights in armore and ornately decorated fireplaces of old. This is until Jan's 20-21st century saxophone weaves its way into this otherwise heavenly image. The sound quietly fades in out of nowhere and eventually drowns out the vocals. It then seems to meander in and out thoughout the rest of the song. If you like John Dowland meets Kenny G., this is for you. Otherwise, if you're looking for "pure" early music, you might want to stick with other Hilliard Ensemble music sans Mr. Garbarek.

I Wish I Could be More Positive, but..........2007-01-06

...but I really hate the soprano sax played over these beautiful pieces. The singing is superb and the repertoire is rare (only one other recording of the Morales, for instance, and that is done quite differently, anent the sax).

I think I would have liked it better if Garbarak had played a lower horn, like an alto or tenor sax. These pieces are about something, and I don't feel that Gabarak really knew what the texts were about and what the composers were responding to in the texts.

I keep it for the exquisite "Parce mihi Domine" sung withoug the screeching sax.

((saxophonist) + (chant + polyphony + motets)) = Officium.......2004-04-22

I bought this album on a whim shortly after its release several years ago after never having listened to any of its tracks, and was completely surprised when I heard it being played as I entered the stave church model located in the Norway region of Disney's Epcot Center during my first visit to the park earlier this year, because I have never at any time heard any of its tracks played anywhere outside my home. The stave church is a strange place to play this secular work, but perhaps the layperson might discover the reasons for this if the liner notes included English translations of the Latin. In my opinion, this album is comprised of some of the best blends of music styles I have ever heard. Essentially, the blends consist of Latin lyrics from the pre-12th through 16th centuries set to jazz. According to the liner notes, the vocal quartet produces "chant, reaching back to its pre-literate forms; early polyphony, where the number of parts was a matter of experiment and the same piece could exist in many different versions; and Renaissance motets that were conceived chordally, and might provide structures over which a saxophone could improvise". The unity of these music forms were united in light of the fact that just as jazz had no name at the beginning of the 20th century, polyphony did not have a name when it began 1000 years ago. As the liner notes explain, "these two nameless historical moments were points of departure for two of the most fundamental ideas in Western music: improvisation and composition".

Absolutely Gorgeous!.......2002-01-10

This is one of the most innovative and sublime CDs in my expansive collection. I'll stay away from trying to explain what centuries the pieces were written in, blah, blah, blah. Bottom line: they were all written before the saxophone was invented. Therefore, Garbarek's "intrusions" should seem as such, interrupting the Hilliard Ensemble's vocalizing. Quite the contrary, though. Garbarek's first notes, although somewhat unexpected, seem quite appropriate and fitted. His "improvisations" around the traditional structure of the vocals are sometimes subtle, sometimes more upfront, but always in keeping with the spirit of the original pieces. He winds and weaves his way around and through the vocal arrangements like a fifth vocalist--no restraints or boundaries but with a keen ear for what will sound good where.

This CD is on my very short list of classical "desert island" discs and ranks right up there with Bobby McFerrin and Yo-Yo Ma's HUSH for improvisational yet traditional music, with ingenious wrinkles thrown in. It's hard to call it straight classical, but it isn't exactly jazz, either. The styles are merged beautifully. The best metaphor I can think of would be a braid: separate entities intertwined and working together for a common goal and a common effect.

Tracks:

Parce mihi domine
Primo tempore
Sanctus
Regnantem sempiterna
O salutaris hostia
Procedentem sponsum
Pulcherrima rosa
Parce mihi domine
Beata viscera
De spineto nata rosa
Credo
Ave maris stella
Virgo flagellatur
Oratio Ieremiae
Parce mihi domine

Tracks:

Parce mihi domine
Primo tempore
Sanctus
Regnantem sempiterna
O salutaris hostia
Procedentem sponsum
Pulcherrima rosa
Parce mihi domine
Beata viscera
De spineto nata rosa
Credo
Ave maris stella
Virgo flagellatur
Oratio Ieremiae
Parce mihi domine

Amazon.com

What is this music? Fundamentally, it's an exploration of what happens when an improvisatory instrumental voice (saxophone) is placed into the world of early vocal music--which has elements of both improvisation and formal structure. In reality, it's an adventure in which the four male voices of the Hilliard Ensemble travel the 14th- and 15th-century territory of Morales and Dufay, visit the 12th century of Perotin, and roam even earlier ages of plainchant, accompanied by the always sensitive and tasteful--and often astonishing--saxophone improvisations of jazz master Jan Garbarek. Sometimes, these new melodies simply accompany; sometimes they transform the common--a routine minor chord, for instance--into a sublime, indescribable moment. The answer to the above question is easy--but it's different for each listener. --David Vernier

Customer Reviews:

I Wish I Could be More Positive..........2007-01-06

Perfect for "Old Souls".......2006-12-15

I'll never forget hearing this music for the first time, in 1993 or 1994 at a sampling station at Borders. I have to admit I was intrigued by the cover photograph likely taken at a cemetery, of a spider web-draped angel statute. That was when CDs were still new, and my first thought was "This is the perfect sound for CDs: clear, quiet, ethereal." I bought the handsome 2-CD package then and there, and my interest in this unique musical project has gradually matured in the past decade. Most recently, following a significant family death in 2002, I've started a personal tradition of spending New Year's Eve alone at home, with only candles burning after 7:00 p.m., listing to recordings of great requiems (Mozart, Durufle, Rutter and Verdi) and The Hilliard Ensemble's Officium (translated to sense of duty, respect, service and allegiance). Spending the last day of the year this way is comforting, and allows me to continue to grieve appropriately. Officium transports me to another place and time, quasi-religious, celestial, meditative. The solo saxophone calls out as if speaking, questioning, affirming. It's not for everyone. This recording will never climb the charts, especially in today's shallow world of noise and self-importance. I would say if you're an "old soul," try listening to this gift of creativity and inspiration. It just might become one of the most valuable recordings you own - as it has for me ...

Mixed feelings about mixed genres.......2006-01-18

Although I enjoy listening to these recordings for their serenity and sense of magical wonder, I tend to sympathise with some of the less glowing reviewers. My favourite passages are, without a shadow of a doubt, those in which the eminent Mr Garbarek's sax is 'tacit' or, at least, 'pianissimo'. Indeed, from time to time I struggle with an impulse to shout out: "Oh shut up, Jan, and let me listen to those wonderful singers!" That said, the voices and the sax do sometimes synergise, though I get the distinct impression that Mr Garbarek was simply overdubbing an existing recording by the Hilliard Ensemble: he seems to be reacting to them, but not vice versa. And with more rehearsal, his notes might have been more appropriate. FINAL VERDICT: an interesting oddity, not an unmitigated success.

Wow........2005-10-12

Gregorian chant is one form of music. If you must have it in the pure form, go elsewhere.

Jazz sax is another form of music. If you are offended by restraining the sax to a gentle, wistful, melodious exploration, go elsewhere.

Otherwise, consider a rope: consisting of several smaller strands, a rope is a strong, limber, powerful thing which can achieve a great deal more than the strands from which it is woven. This music is a rope. The saxophone entwines itself inextricably through, above and around the unearthly vocals of the Hilliard ensemble. Neither the highly disciplined music of the singers, nor the restrained music of the saxophone makes a deeply powerful statement in its own right -- but together, they become something above and beyond, something that completely transcends either genre.

This is an astonishing work. If you have the ability to listen, you will be rewarded beyond your hopes.

What Coltrane hears in heaven.......2005-07-16

If you haven't heard any of these tracks before, then almost nothing can prepare you for them. I do feel sorry for those listeners whose sensibilities have been outraged, and who believe that these songs are set in stone, and that no kind of improvisation is legal. The effect must be like seeing (as Prince Charles remarked of a modern building in London) a carbuncle on the face of a loved old friend.

Horrified reactions are, however, in the minority, since this album has sold in immense quantities -- and the reason is the ravishing beauty of the music, which is accessible to anyone with musical ears.

As with several Garbarek recordings, the sax occasionally seems louder than necessary, but then Garbarek must be a difficult performer to record, since his tonal range is so huge.

The natural melodies that flow from Garbarek's three horns have always had an air of belonging half a millennium away from the present; and his genius as a performer enables him to add a fifth voice to these ancient compositions that I am certain the original composers would have found far less shocking than the modern listeners who think them sacrilegious.

This music is heavenly and indescribable, but I urge anyone on this page to listen to the samples (bearing in mind that the sound is ravishing on a proper stereo) and make up your own mind.

Music is nobody's loved old friend, but a great city that needs to keep growing for ever, and this is a wonderful new building to dwell in and perceive beauty.

Average customer rating:

MERCY AND JUSTICE
Spanish Music of 16th Century
My favorite McCreesh recording

Morales: Music for Philip II

Manufacturer: Archiv Produktion
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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

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

Classical | Imports | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Victoria: Requiem - Officium defunctorum (1605) / McCreesh, Gabrieli Consort
Morales: Office des Ténèbres
Morales en Toledo: Polifonía inédita del Códices 25, 1545-1547
Morales: Mass for the Feast of St. Isidore of Seville

ASIN: B000007OZ9
Release Date: 1998-06-09

Tracks:

Officium defunctorum: Invitatorium: Antifona: 'Circumdederunt me'
Officium defunctorum: Invitatorium: Salmo 94: 'Venite, exultemus Domino'
Missa pro Defunctis (1544): Introitus: 'Requiem aeternam'
Missa pro Defunctis (1544): Kyrie
Missa pro Defunctis (1544): Oratio
Missa pro Defunctis (1544): Epistola
Missa pro Defunctis (1544): Graduale: 'Requiem aeternam'
Missa pro Defunctis (1544): Tractus: 'Absolve, Domine'
Missa pro Defunctis (1544): Sequentia: 'Dies irae'
Missa pro Defunctis (1544): Evangelium
Missa pro Defunctis (1544): Offertorium: 'Domine Iesu Christe'
Missa pro Defunctis (1544): Prefatio
Missa pro Defunctis (1544): Sanctus
Missa pro Defunctis (1544): Benedictus
Missa pro Defunctis (1544): Pater noster
Missa pro Defunctis (1544): Agnus Dei
Missa pro Defunctis (1544): Communio: 'Lux aeterna'
Missa pro Defunctis (1544): Postcommunio
Motectum: 'Versa est in luctum'

Amazon.com essential recording

This is arguably the most impressive recording the Gabrieli Consort has ever made. Here you have a low-voiced choir, accompanied only by a bassoon, singing more than an hour of music that is austere even as funeral masses go--yet it all sounds positively gorgeous. Paul McCreesh's tempi are slow, but his sensitive phrasing and dynamics keep the music from ever seeming static. Where most groups rush through plainchant passages as if they'd rather not have to do them at all, these musicians take the chant seriously--and make it sound integral to the music rather than like boring but obligatory preliminaries. As usual, McCreesh sets the music in liturgical context (a memorial Mass for Philip II of Spain); the liturgy itself seems a work of art--for example, the gospel lesson (Jesus and Martha after the death of Lazarus) is unexpectedly touching. McCreesh has taken music that can seem forbiddingly sober and shown it to be mournful, powerful, serene, and sweet. --Matthew Westphal

Customer Reviews:

MERCY AND JUSTICE.......2006-02-04

There was a time, before cell phones, before i-pods, even before fax machines, when the soul of a faithfully departed man or woman was sent off to the judgment of God with all the beauty and mystery of the old Roman Catholic funerary rite. Based largely on the fact that Jesus mentions the finality of hell far more often than the hope of heaven, the Church, over the ages, devised the solemn penitential requiem. She ministered to all souls, the great and the not so great, and simultainiously, reminded all who would listen that the end is not for us to know. The natural, or should I say, the super-natural end of all humans is our return to out Heavenly Father. There is great comfort in this thought, but no earthly certainty. Hence, the requiem is centered around our plea for mercy for our loved one and, assisted in devotion and reverence, Holy Mother Church does all in her power to beg forgivness for sins commited and goodly deeds ommited on behalf of the deceased. Although the concept of congregational prayers for the dead is probably nearly immosible to date with any real accuarcy, we can say that the massed effort of litugy, and accomanying hymns and motets, have generally been of a subdued, reserved and wholly proper nature befitting the profound event at hand. The results are a synthesis of words and music, so holy, so moving and so orthodox, that one's soul might say, "surely, Lord, there is room in Your house for just one more."
Christobal Morales, I think, may have felt just that way. And, even if he didn't, he knew the nature of the true and tradtional requiem mass--he knew it in his heart and in his mind. He wrote not for audiences, nor for royalty (though, indeed, Philip II may have benefited directly from Morales' gifts). No, he wrote for the dead. He also wrote for the Church, essecially if one considers the ecclesiastical turmoil in cen tral Europe at this time. I think it was St. Augustine who said, "He who sings, prays twice." Enough said--well said.
This is one of the very best recordings of any type of music, from any age, by any performers currently in my library. Not only for my very obvious love of the theological message of Morales, but also for the stunningly rich, resonant and unquestionable beauty of this recording, this is one of my handful of priceless treasures. It should be one of yours, as well.
In 1999, I was giving a 4 day music seminar in Northern California, and I spent an afternoon examining the musical development of the requiem. After the thunder of Verdi and Berlioz, the richness and warmth of Durulfe and Faure and the touching humanity of Brahms, I was asked the obvious question. "Which requiem would you prefer for yourself, or a loved one?" Need I tell you my reply? I could not recommend any work as much as I now recommend this one.

Spanish Music of 16th Century.......2001-05-23

Cristobal de Morales is considered one of the most influential Spanish composers of the great imperial century of Spain, beginning in 1492 with the fall of Granada, last Moorish kingdom in Spain, to Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabel of Castille, and ending in the 1590's with the death of Phillip the Second and the bankruptcy of the Spanish crown. The famous events of this century in the Iberian world include the voyages of Christopher Columbus, the conquest of Mexico by Hernan Cortez (1591-21), the darker conquest of Peru by Pizarro, the famous battle of Lepanto in 1571, in which the allied Catholic fleets of the Mediterranean under the command of Don Juan de Austria (brother of Charles V) defeated the Ottoman Turkish fleet on the west coast of Greece (a battle in which the young ensign Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra became partially and permanently disabled), the several armadas which Phillip II sent against England, the independence of the Netherlands under William the Silent, and the final disillusionment of Spain with the outcome of an age in whose beginning so much promise had been seen.

Cristobal de Morales' work is shaped by the predominant importance of religious composition in 16th Century Spain, with this requiem representing one of the high points of this school of composition. Based on historical research, it is deemed most likely that this requiem was performed at the requiem services for both the Emperor Charles V of Hapsburg in Toledo, and his son Phillip II of Spain. This work was performed in Mexico City at the reqiuem masses for both kings, and should be heard in the context not only of the influence of Spanish composition on the New World, but also in the context of the tremendous aptitude of the pre-Columbian peoples of New Spain for the European music to which the Castillians and Portuguese exposed them, an aptitude which is touched upon in the film "The Mission" (although in the South American setting, but no less true of the peoples of Mexico and Central America). The audio quality of this album is excellent and the high quality artistic direction and performance of this work are an outcome of decades of increased interest and recording activity in the European Community in the area of early music. This recording is a must for any student of choral and early music or the artisitic and cultural ambiance of 16th Century Mediterranean Europe and New Spain.

My favorite McCreesh recording.......2000-03-29

Even by Paul McCreesh' high standards, this recording is a marvel. The generous acoustics, the bass-heavy chorus, and the dark accompaniment of a Spanish dulcian (called Bajon) create the hair-rising sonority that is so symbolic of the profundity of death. The choral sound is very open, in a characteristically Spanish way; it comes close to being a "wall of sound," but the textual detail remains traceable. In fact, the more austere the general mood of the work, the more effective are the sections in which the intensity of individual lines is more evident (e.g., Offertorium and the Osannas). The structure of the mass, with the highest and the lowest voices being generally more static than the voices in the middle, seems designed to highlight the value of fleeting human existence in the middle of perpetual dichotomies. As is usual with McCreesh, the mass is placed in its proper liturgical context (and the quasi-improvized choral chants are not even boring!). The disc ends with Alonso Lobo's magnificent motet Versa est in luctum, notable for its high-flying top line.

Average customer rating:

intoxicating Spanish mysticism of breathtaking beauty

Morales: Officium Defunctorum

Manufacturer: Astree
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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

Tracks:

Officium Defunctorum: Ad Matutinum: Circumdederunt Me Gemitus Mortis
Officium Defunctorum: Invitatorium: Regem Cui Omnia Vivunt/Psalmus 94: Venite, Exultemus Domino
Officium Defunctorum: In Primo Nocturno: Versiculum: A Porta Infieri/Lectio I (Job 7, 16-21)...
Officium Defunctorum: In Primo Nocturno: Lectio II (Job 10, 1-7): Taedet Animam Meam Vitae
Officium Defunctorum: In Primo Nocturno: Lectio III (Job 10, 8-12): Manus Tuas
Officium Defunctorum: In Secundo Nocturno: Versiculum: Collocet Eos Cum Principibus/Responsorium...
Missa Pro Defunctis, A 5: Introitus
Missa Pro Defunctis, A 5: Kyrie
Missa Pro Defunctis, A 5: Graduale
Missa Pro Defunctis, A 5: Sequentia
Missa Pro Defunctis, A 5: Offertorium: Domine Jesu Christe V. Hostias Et Preces
Missa Pro Defunctis, A 5: Sanctus
Missa Pro Defunctis, A 5: Benedictus
Missa Pro Defunctis, A 5: Agnus Dei
Missa Pro Defunctis, A 5: Communio: Lux Aeterna V. Requiem Aeternam

Amazon.com

Jordi Savall and his musicians recreate the starkly beautiful funeral music sung in Mexico City in 1559 at memorial ceremonies for Emperor Charles V. They perform Morales's score with a complement of cornet, sacbuts, and viols doubling the voices. (This was regularly done in 16th-century Spanish cathedrals; whether it was done at funerals is less clear.) Savall and his musicians are sensitive; and fascinating in the plainchant sequence Dies iræ, which is done with parallel fifths and similar embellishments. Ultimately, however, Savall is overly swayed by the music's simplicity: He makes Morales's music sound like the sort of austere workmanship one must admire but can rarely enjoy (like Shaker furniture or macrobiotic cuisine). --Matthew Westphal

Customer Reviews:

intoxicating Spanish mysticism of breathtaking beauty.......2005-05-28

This is without doubt amongst the most breathtakingly beautiful recordings of Renaissance music available. Although a mass for the dead, the overall impact is one of intense solace and meditation that is ultimately consoling. Jordi Savall succeeds in creating an incredibly atmospheric performace that brings this music to life in a way very few recordings of music of this period ever succeed in doing. Even someone as uncompromising as Todd McComb on Medieval.org actually recommends this recording. And certainly someone as jaded as me still holds his breath every time he listens to this hypnotic recording.

Cristóbal de Morales: Officium defunctorum & Missa pro Defunctis

Average customer rating:

Intoxicating Spanish mysticism of breathtaking intensity
Absolutely beautiful!
Divine Sadness
Music for Eternity
Spanish music is absolutely the best!

Cristóbal de Morales: Officium defunctorum & Missa pro Defunctis

Manufacturer: Astree
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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

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

Tracks:

Officium Defunctorum: Ad Matutinum: Circumdederunt Me Gemitus Mortis
Officium Defunctorum: Invitatorium: Regem Cui Omnia Vivunt/Psalmus 94: Venite, Exultemus Domino
Officium Defunctorum: In Primo Nocturno: Versiculum: A Porta Infieri/Lectio I (Job 7 16-21): Parce M
Officium Defunctorum: In Primo Nocturno: Lectio II (Job 10, 1-7): Taedet Animam Meam Vitae
Officium Defunctorum: In Primo Nocturno: Lectio III (Job 10, 8-12): Manus Tuas
Officium Defunctorum: In Secundo Nocturno: Versiculum: Collocet Eos Cum Principibus/Responsorium...
Missa Pro Defunctis: Introitus
Missa Pro Defunctis: Kyrie
Missa Pro Defunctis: Graduale
Missa Pro Defunctis: Sequentia
Missa Pro Defunctis: Offertorium: Domine Jesu Christe V. Hostias Et Preces
Missa Pro Defunctis: Sanctus
Missa Pro Defunctis: Benedictus
Missa Pro Defunctis: Agnus Dei
Missa Pro Defunctis: Communio: Lux Aeterna V. Requiem Aeternam

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

Intoxicating Spanish mysticism of breathtaking intensity.......2005-06-15

You really have to take note when not merely one but two professional musicians (Martin Gester and Eduardo Paniagua) interviewed on separate occasions for Goldberg (the early music magazine) in their '10 desert island CDs' series place this on their desert island list. In their CD review Goldberg also gives it their highest 5 star rating.

This is without doubt amongst the most breathtakingly beautiful recordings of Renaissance music available. Although a mass for the dead, the overall impact is one of intense solace and meditation that is ultimately consoling. Jordi Savall succeeds in creating an incredibly atmospheric performace that brings this music to life in a way very few recordings of music of this period ever succeed in doing. Certainly someone as jaded from hearing too many great composers as me still holds his breath every time he listens to this hypnotic recording.

I urge you to try this CD - a desert island candidate indeed if there ever was one.

Absolutely beautiful!.......2002-02-26

This matins and Requiem provides a transport back to the beginnings of the Tridentine reform of these services. The chants are beautiful, and the polyphony just stunning! The opening "Circumdederunt me" is worth the price of the entire CD, it is so poignant. Of equally exceptional character are the "Regem cui" refrains to Ps. 94 and its finale, and the "Dirige". The Requiem pieces are somewhat austere and solemn, and commendable for that reason. I recommend this CD highly.

Divine Sadness.......2002-01-04

I am no musicologist. In fact, I can't read a note of music. And when I sing, people run in the opposite direction. But on this recording, I believe I have heard the voice of the Creator. What sublime sadness! What total surrender to the will of God! It is like listening to the soundtrack to one's own experiences with the loss of a loved one. The loss, the emptiness, the longing, the fear...but ultimately the hope and even the joy of a certain resurection. This is a music that touches some of our most basic needs. To remember the dead, to honor their memory and to contemplate our own place in the web of life. Buy it...because everyone needs food for the soul.

Music for Eternity.......2000-03-22

The most touching and beautiful recording from a choral piece of the Spanish Renaissance period. Jordi Savall opens us doors of heaven. Really inspiring and grandiose. You absolutly have to own it !

Spanish music is absolutely the best!.......2000-02-10

This CD is the finest recording I have heard of any choral music. It simply leaves me awestruck. I cannot think while I listen to this. Morales writes such beautiful, deep harmonies, and this group is more than capable of performing this. I absolutely feel that Morales would approve! Also, the organum on this CD is phenomenal. I have heard nothing like it! This CD will take you to another world.

Average customer rating:

People who live in glass houses...
Not The Greatest Hits..............but still
ARS MUSICAE - PORTRAIT OF JORDI SAVALL

Jordi Savall: Ars Musicae

Manufacturer: Fontalis
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Ballets | Ballets & Dances | Classical | Styles | Music

Nonets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Improvisation | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

Suites | Forms & Genres | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | 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

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

Tracks:

CANTIGA 105: Rontundellus
La Sacre De Charles VII
Pues Que Jamas Olvidaros
Extrait
Recercadas Sobre Tenores
IN SECUNDO NOCTURNO: Officium Defunctorum
Todo El Mundo En General
SALVE REGINA A 8: Cantiga Beatae Virginis
CANTUS IV: Paduan A 4 Voc
Desde Las Torres Del Alma
Vespro Della Beata Vergina
HEI MIHI: Missa Pro-Defunctis
TRADITIONNEL: El Cant Dels Ocells

Tracks:

Fantasia IX - Henry Purcell
Marc-Antoine Carpentier / Pour la conception de la Vierge
Guillaume Dumanoir / Ballet de Stockholm (Excerpt)
Pis de viole 2 livre
The prophetess, Dance of Furies - Henry Purcell
Pis de Viole, Chaconne en Mi - Francois Couperin
Jean-Sebastian Bach / LArt de la Fugue, Contrapuncto in stylo francese
Georg-Friedrich Hel / Musik for the Royal Fireworks, Ouverture
Les Sept Dernis Paroles de Notre Rmpteur sur la Croix, Evangelium Consummatum est & Sonata VI - Joseph Haydn
Requiem K. 626, Agnus Dei - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Juan Chrismo de Arriaga / Ouverture opus 1, Nonetto
Ouverture Coriolan, opus 62 - Ludwig Van Beethoven

Customer Reviews:

People who live in glass houses..........2002-11-17

Reviewer Graham Sanders from London United Kingdom got one thing just plain wrong: Jordi Savall's own label is ALIA Vox!

Re this set: anything by Jordi Savall is as good as it (music) gets.

Not The Greatest Hits..............but still.......2002-05-10

The enthusiast who wrote the first review missed one thing and got another just plain wrong.

This album comprises bleeding chunks torn from JD's Astree recordings: it's a hits compilation and nothing more. It cannot be one of his greatest albums - by definition.

And in any event he's doing his best work now: buy anything on his very own Audio Vox label and hear for yourselves.

Also available at the time of writing: a 4-cd set of his Virgin recordings called Espagna Antigua. Expect to pay pennies and enjoy it for the rest of your life.

Jordi savall? The real thing, no......(er)......mistake, guv.

ARS MUSICAE - PORTRAIT OF JORDI SAVALL.......2000-04-07

A WONDERFUL SELECTION WITH SOME OF THE BEST PIECES BY JORDI SAVALL AS A PERFORMER AND DIRECTOR. BEAUTIFUL ATHMOSPHERES THAT COMBINE BAROQUE MUSIQUE WITH HISPANO/ARABIC INFLUENCES,I'M A JORDI SAVALL ENTHUSIAST AND THIS IS, TO MY OPINION, ONE IF HIS BEST CD. THANKS AMAZOM.COM

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

The Height of Fashion

50 Classical Performances: Tchaikovsky

A Proper Introduction to Ruth Brown: Teardrops From My Eyes

Sunlight [Original recording remastered] [Import]

Source Material

A Shot of Rhythm & Blues

About the Blues [Import]

Alexander Kipnis: Opera, Lieder

A Bird Flies Out

Alone Together

Adventure [Original recording remastered]

100 Anos de Musica Cubana (1879-1979): Homenaje Al Danzon

10 Favoritas de Siempre, Vol. 4

Hans Christian Lumbye: Festival at Tivoli

A Nice Boy from Brooklyn

1. Officium Defunctorum: Ad Matutinum: Circumdederunt Me Gemitus Mortis
2. Officium Defunctorum: Invitatorium: Regem Cui Omnia Vivunt/Psalmus 94: Venite, Exultemus Domino
3. Officium Defunctorum: In Primo Nocturno: Versiculum: A Porta Infieri/Lectio I (Job 7 16-21): Parce M
4. Officium Defunctorum: In Primo Nocturno: Lectio II (Job 10, 1-7): Taedet Animam Meam Vitae
5. Officium Defunctorum: In Primo Nocturno: Lectio III (Job 10, 8-12): Manus Tuas
6. Officium Defunctorum: In Secundo Nocturno: Versiculum: Collocet Eos Cum Principibus/Responsorium...
7. Missa Pro Defunctis: Introitus
8. Missa Pro Defunctis: Kyrie
9. Missa Pro Defunctis: Graduale
10. Missa Pro Defunctis: Sequentia
11. Missa Pro Defunctis: Offertorium: Domine Jesu Christe V. Hostias Et Preces
12. Missa Pro Defunctis: Sanctus
13. Missa Pro Defunctis: Benedictus
14. Missa Pro Defunctis: Agnus Dei
15. Missa Pro Defunctis: Communio: Lux Aeterna V. Requiem Aeternam