Leonel Power

Power: Missa Alma redemptoris mater / Motets
Hilliard Ensemble - Paul Hillier
EMI "Reflexe" IC 069 46 402 [LP]
EMI "Reflexe" 63 064 [CD]
Virgin Edition 61 345

Contents:

  1. Ave Regina (motet à 3)
  2. Gloria (à 5)
  3. Beata viscera (motet à 3)
  4. Credo (à 5)
  5. Sanctus (à 4)
  6. Agnus Dei (à 4)
  7. Salve Regina (motet à 3)

  8. Missa Alma redemptoris mater à 3
  9. Gloria
  10. Credo
  11. Sanctus
  12. Agnus Dei
  13. Ibo michi ad montem (motet à 3)
  14. Quam pulchra es (motet à 3)

Performers: David James (countertenor), Ashley Stafford (countertenor), Paul Elliott (tenor), Leigh Nixon (tenor), Rogers Covey-Crump (tenor), Paul Hillier (baritone), Michael George (bass)

Playing time: 53'

Compilation: EMI Classics 826 522-2 [CDx6] REFLEXE Vol. 9 Stationen Europäischer Musik

Recording date: September 1980; re-released mid-price: 1989

Although not quite as famous as Dunstable, Leonel Power (c.1370/85-1445) was easily the next most significant English composer of the era. His Missa Alma redemptoris mater is apparently the earliest surviving cyclic cantus firmus mass. Tracks #1-2 & #4-6 come from the Old Hall manuscript, in which Power is the most-represented composer.

The slightly later recording devoted to Dunstable by the present ensemble is also a classic:

Dunstable: Motets
Hilliard Ensemble - Paul Hillier
Virgin Edition 61342

A fine recording by the present ensemble, devoted to the Old Hall manuscript, illustrating the English Ars Nova style as well as transitional music such as Power's:

The Old Hall Manuscript
Hilliard Ensemble - Paul Hillier
Virgin Edition 61393

Finally, although English contributions to the early 15th-century cyclic mass are emphasized in most scholarly accounts, other examples apparently date to the same period. One such, preserved in Italy:

Arnold de Lantins: Missa Verbum Incarnatum
Capilla Flamenca / Psallentes
Ricercar 207

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Todd M. McComb