Josquin Des Prez, Cappella Amsterdam, Daniel Reuss - Miserere Mei Deus
STYLE: Choral RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 173652- LABEL: Harmonia Mundi HMM902620 FORMAT: CD Album ITEMS: 1
Reviewed by Steven Whitehead
They liked a good funeral back in the 15th century; perhaps they could sense the changing of the old order with the discovery of the New World, the invention of the printing press, and the Protestant Reformation. Poets wrote in honour of their deceased patrons and composers set the words to music in a macabre competition to show status even in death. Most of the music on this disc comes from Josquin Des Prez (c 1450/55-1521), a peripatetic musician and composer who bridged the gap between Dunstable and Dufay before him and Palestrina, Victoria and Lassus who were to follow. The texts in this collection come from poets of the movement known as "the Great Rhetoricians" from the courts of Burgundy and France and while I could list their names I doubt if many of us would have heard of them. We open with a "Deploration on the death of Ockeghem", this being Jean of that ilk who died in 1497 and even with the translation of the poem open in front of me I have to say that it rather washed over my head, albeit in a pleasantly tranquil way. We move on to a setting of the opening of John's Gospel, "In principio erat Verbum" which even with my limited Latin I could work out to be "In the beginning was the Word" and again the music is reflective and restful: I enjoyed hearing it but if I did not concentrate it drifted into a background ambient meditational chill-out, which is far less than it deserves. The singing, unaccompanied throughout, comes from the chamber choir Cappella Amsterdam under conductor Daniel Reuss and as with their previous releases the musicianship is first class with a very pleasing blend of voices. No doubt those with a particular interest in the music of the 15th century will be delighted to hear this album, as will those that appreciate excellence in acappella singing. However, for the general listener this is too specialized. Josquin Des Prez was one of the greats of his day but the music on offer here does not tell his whole story.
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