Josquin: Missa Pange Lingua & Motets

Josquin: Missa Pange Lingua & Motets
A Sei Voci / Maîtrise des Pays de Loire - Bernard Fabre-Garrus
Astrée (Naïve) E 8639 [CD]

Contents:

  1. Appel (bells)
  2. Pange Lingua (chant)
  3. Kyrie
  4. Gloria
  5. Graduel: Christus factus est (chant)
  6. Credo
  7. Sanctus
  8. Agnus Dei
  9. Popule meus (chant)
  10. Motet: Qui velatus facie fuisti
  11. Motet: O Domine, Jesu Christe
  12. Motet: Christus mortuus est
  13. Nos auterm (chant)

Performers: Raoul Le Chenadec (countertenor), Thierry Brehu (tenor), Serge Goubioud (tenor), Lucien Kandel (tenor), Nicolas Maire (tenor), Eric Raffard (tenor), James Gowings (bass), Jean-Louis Georgel (bass), Jean-Louis Paya (bass); Pascaline Baguenier, Quentin Boucherie, Vanessa Berrué Emmanuelle Bouyer, Céline Delanoe, Ludovic Grandière, Anne Lafhille, Flore Lenoir, Gwenola Maheux, Audrey Payet, Matthieu Roger, Thomas Roger, Mélaine Vignal (choir), Bertrand Lemaire (direction of chant)

Playing time: 70'

Recording date: April 1999 (Church of Saint Robert, Corrèze)

Compilation:
Astrée (Naïve) E 8871 [CDx4] Renaissance

The Missa Pange Lingua is believed to be Josquin's last setting, and has become his most popular today. It is, in many ways, his closest to the plainchant on which it is based, showing less artifice than some settings and a general gravity. It is overwhelmingly in four parts, with some duet sections which have become justifiably famous. The overall emphasis on homophonic texture rather than more freely ranging polyphony also serves to make this mass evocative of the later developments of Palestrina et al.

Other recent recordings of this, Josquin's best-represented mass:

Josquin: Missa Pange Lingua
Kammerchor Josquin des Préz - Ludwig Böhme
Carus 83.345
Josquin: Missa Pange lingua
Ensemble Clément Janequin / Ensemble Organum - Marcel Pérès
Harmonia Mundi 901239
Josquin: Missa Pange lingua / Missa La sol fa re mi
Tallis Scholars - Peter Phillips
Gimell 454 909
Josquin Des Prés
Messe Pange lingua
Ensemble Métamorphoses de Paris - Maurice Bourbon
Arion 68043
Josquin: Missa Pange Lingua
Choir of Westminster Cathedral - James O'Donnell
Hyperion 66614
Josquin: Missa Pange lingua & motets
Sydney Chamber Choir - Nicholas Routley
Tall Poppies Records 054

The present notes suggest that Josquin's real family name may have been Lebloitte, an interesting suggestion, and certainly one reason we tend to favor the "Josquin" name in designating the composer. Track #12 is a questionable attribution.

This recordings marks the fifth in a planned complete cycle of Josquin's masses by the present ensemble. One notable feature of the cycle is that different issues have featured different supporting casts and consequently sonorities. The other volumes:

Josquin: Missa Ave maris stella / Motets à la Vierge
A Sei Voci - Bernard Fabre-Garrus
Astrée 8507
Josquin: Missa De beata Virgine / Motets à la Vierge
A Sei Voci - Bernard Fabre-Garrus
Astrée 8560
Josquin: Missa Hercules Dux Ferrariae
A Sei Voci - Bernard Fabre-Garrus
Astrée 8601
Josquin: Missa Gaudeamus & Motets à la Vierge
A Sei Voci - Bernard Fabre-Garrus
Astrée 8612
Josquin: Messes de l'homme armé
Ensemble A Sei Voci - Bernard Fabre-Garrus
Astrée 8809

For a much longer listing of recordings including Josquin in one way or another, see the developing Josquin discography. The present mass has been recorded at least since the 40s.

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Todd M. McComb