-
Views
-
Cite
Cite
Barbara E Dietlinger, Sacred music from within and beyond the liturgy, Early Music, Volume 50, Issue 2, May 2022, Pages 247–249, https://doi.org/10.1093/em/caac019
Close - Share Icon Share
Extract
This bouquet of recordings of 16th- and 17th-century sacred music offers a wide range of genres, from Masses and Vespers, lamentations and motets, to hymns and Sarum chants. The CDs under review here include devotional and liturgical music from both well-known and more obscure composers. In addition, some of the recordings are world premiere recordings of newly discovered music.
The first two CDs sound like close cousins, clearly related while still displaying their own individuality. The Green Mountain Project’s live recording of Claudio Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespro della Beata Vergine (Olde Focus Recordings fcr918, rec 2020) presents a beautifully lucid version of the music with the TENET Vocal Artists and the Dark Horse Consort. The instruments include sackbuts, cornetts, stringed instruments and organ, while the vocal lines are performed one singer per part. Music director Jeffrey Grossman achieves an aural equilibrium between the singers and instrumentalists in most pieces and maintains comfortable tempos. The recording captures the excitement typical of a live performance. The singers impress with their delicate phrasing and messa di voce. Tenor Aaron Sheehan should be congratulated for his splendid performance of the motet for one voice Nigra sum. The acoustics of the Church at St Jean Baptiste in New York City provided an ideal venue for the performance of the motet Audi coelum, which includes a composed echo. The booklet gives a valuable introduction to Vespers in general and Monteverdi’s publication in particular. Unfortunately, it does not give detailed information about the singers, even less about the instrumentalists.
