Gothic Voices - Missa Caput: The Spirits Of England And France Vol 4

Sunday 1st June 1997
Gothic Voices - Missa Caput: The Spirits Of England And France Vol 4

STYLE: Choral
RATING 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 17178-
LABEL: Hyperion 66857
FORMAT: CD Album
ITEMS: 1

Reviewed by John Irvine

The 'Missa Caput' was the most famous and influential English Mass setting of the middle ages, having a major impact on the composers of the day both in Britain and on the Continent. It was one of the earliest pieces to add a fourth voice to the existing three part choral treatment. This four voice arrangement, similar to our modern SATB, spread rapidly and within about 30 years became the norm for composition. The 'Missa Caput' was originally thought to have been written by Dufay, but scholars have shown that it is English in origin and the work of an unknown genius. Separated from Dufay, recordings and performances of this neglected work have been few and far between and Hyperion is to be congratulated in restoring this work to the Catalogue. Strangely, though, the Gothic Voices have chosen to intersperse the sections of the polyphonic Mass with verses from a Latin plainsong about the origins of the single most sung song in the middle ages, the "Salve Regina". However, with judicious use of a CD programme facility, it is possible to restore the Mass to its uninterrupted glory. The recording is excellent, balancing the four unaccompanied voices against each other and balancing the voices against their recording environment, producing a final result which is both spacious and intimate.

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