Classical Renaissance Palestrina, Gombert, Lassus, Victoria – Song Of Songs (2009)
Palestrina, Gombert, Lassus, Victoria – Song Of Songs (2009)
Palestrina, Gombert, Lassus, Victoria – Song Of Songs (2009)
01 – Jacob Clemens non Papa: Egos flos campi 02 – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Osculetur me 03 – Anonymous: Antiphon: Dum esset rex 04 – Francisco Guerrero: Surge, propera amica mea 05 – Nicolas Gombert: Quam pulchra es 06 – Anonymous: Antiphon: Nigra sum 07 – Orlande de Lassus: Veni, dilecte mi 08 – Tómas Luis de Victoria: Vadam et circuibo 09 – Anonymous: Alleluia: Tota pulchra es 10 – Francisco Guerrero: Ego flos campi 11 – Jean Lhéritier: Nigra sum 12 – Anonymous: Antiphon: Laeva eius 13 – Rodrigo de Ceballos: Hortus conclusus 14 – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Nigra Sum 15 – Anonymous: Antiphon: Speciosa facta es 16 – Sebastián de Vivanco: Veni, dilecte mi 17 – Francisco Guerrero: Trahe me post te 18 – Anonymous: Antiphon: lam hiems transiit 19 – Tómas Luis de Victoria: Vidi speciosam Stile Antico: Alto Vocals – Carris Jones, Eleanor Harries, Emma Ashby Bass Vocals – Matthew O'Donovan, Oliver Hunt, Will Dawes Soprano Vocals – Alison Hill (tracks: 1, 4, 19), Helen Ashby, Kate Ashby, Rebecca Hickey Tenor Vocals – Andrew Griffiths, Benedict Hymas (tracks: 2, 5, 8, 11), Peter Asprey, Tom Herford
Stile Antico’s third recording won the 2009 Gramophone Award for Early Music and reached the top of the US Classical Chart. The beautiful and erotic texts of the Song of Songs, a love-poem traditionally attributed to King Solomon, inspired the great composers of the Continental Renaissance to some of their most ardent music. This rich selection traces an emotional arc from the intensity of the Flemish masters to the most vivid, madrigialian motets by Vivanco and Victoria. ---stileantico.co.uk
The members of the British vocal ensemble Stile Antico, founded in 2001, have an exceptionally pure and youthful sound. In previous albums the group has explored English music of the Renaissance, and here it turns to sixteenth and early seventeenth settings of texts from the Song of Songs by a variety of continental composers. The selections include some of the masterworks of high Renaissance polyphony, including music by Nicolas Gombert, Orlande de Lassus, Jacob Clemens non Papa, Francisco Guerrero, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and Tomás Luis de Victoria. The works by lesser composers, including Jean Lhéritier, Rodrigo de Ceballos, and Sebastián de Vivanco are no less impressive and affecting, especially in performances as polished and attentive as these. The elaborately polyphonic textures that prevail are effectively shown off and are kept from becoming too much of a good thing because they are interspersed with monophonic plainchant antiphons that serve as refreshing aural palate cleansers. The ensemble sings with immaculate intonation and an impressively broad expressive range. The group works without a conductor, and the sensitivity and attention that that demands of each member pays off beautifully in these performances, where they seem to operate as a single organic entity. The sound of the SACD is clean, but atmospheric and nicely ambient. The only caveat is that, through some anomaly of recording, some initial consonants, particularly "s" and "ch," have a percussive punch that works against the prevailing tone of smooth serenity. ---Stephen Eddins, AllMusic Review
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