Musica Vaticana

Musica Vaticana
Music from the Vatican Manuscripts (1503-1534)
Pomerium - Alexander Blachly
Glissando 001

Contents:

  1. Anon., plainchant (MS 4, fol. 4r. "Antiphoner Clement VII"): Rex pacificus (antiphon)
  2. Josquin (MS 16, fol. 156'-161): Benedicta es, celorum regina à 6
  3. Andreas de Silva (c.1475-c.1530; MS 24, fol. 143'-146): Omnis pulchritudo domini à 5
  4. Mouton (MS 26, fol. 151'): Tua est potentia à 5
  5. Elzéar Genet (c.1470-1548; MS 163, fol. 8'-14): Lamentatio Jeremie in cena domini à 4
  6. Festa (MS 46, fol. 135'-138): Inviolata, integra et casta à 8
  7. Willaert (MS 46, fol. 43'-46): Enixa est puerpera à 6
  8. Josquin (MS 16, fol. 170'-174): Virgo salutiferi à 5
  9. Festa (MS 20, fol. 92'-95): Pater noster / Ave Maria à 6
  10. Festa (MS 18, fol. 3'-6): Conditor alme siderum à 5

Performers: Michèle Eaton (soprano), Elizabeth Farnum (soprano), Alessandra Visconti (soprano), Marcia Young (soprano), Johnson Flucker (countertenor), Drew Minter (countertenor), Thom Baker (tenor), Gregory Carder (tenor), Neil Farrell (tenor), Michael Steinberger (tenor), Mark Duer (bass), Jeffrey Johnson (bass), Kurt-Owen Richards (bass), Peter Stewart (bass)

Playing time: 67'

Recording date: June 1998 (Regensburg)

This program is taken from the Sistine Chapel manuscripts of the first third of the 16th century. This was perhaps the most elaborate period in the history of the Vatican and the Papacy, and the grandiosity of the works reflects that accordingly. Frequent comparison is made to Michelangelo, for instance, in the discussion accompanying the present program.

The Lamentations setting of Genet (called "Carpentras") was some of the most ubiquitous Vatican music of the period, performed for every Holy Week until 1587. The work of Festa is also connected especially strongly to the Vatican, and of course Josquin Desprez was the most-represented composer in polyphony manuscripts of the period. The program as a whole represents some of the variety available, including noted composers Mouton and Willaert.

This is an extremely impressive production to inaugurate the Glissando label, done in conjunction with a German exhibition on culture in the Vatican during these years. The quality of the paper, the engineering and the graphic design are among the best available.

A selection of Pomerium's other recordings:

Carolus Maximus: Music in the Life of Charles V
Pomerium - Alexander Blachly
Glissando 008
Josquin
Pomerium
Glissando 779 043
Dufay: Missa Sancti Anthonii de Padua
Pomerium - Alexander Blachly
Deutsche Grammophon Archiv 447 772
Creator of the Stars
Christmas Music from Earlier Times
Pomerium - Alexander Blachly
Deutsche Grammophon Archiv 449 819
Musical Book of Hours
Pomerium - Alexander Blachly
Archiv Produktion 457 586
The Mannerist Revolution
Madrigals by Gesualdo, Monteverdi, Wert, Marenzio
Pomerium Musices - Alexander Blachly
Dorian 90154
Antoine Busnoys: In hydraulis & other works
Pomerium - Alexander Blachly
Dorian 90184

Information on their other recordings is presently filed under the most similar title above.

A couple of recent selections of music in this general style:

O Socii Durate
Motets by Willaert, Lassus, Manchicourt, De Rore
The Renaissance Singers - Edward Wickham
AS&V "Quicksilva" 6228
Benedicta es, celorum regina
Renaissance in The Netherlands
Cappella Breda / Daniël Speer Trombone Consort - Daan Manneke
Erasmus 249

And finally a recording devoted to more of Carpentras' Lamentation settings:

Carpentras: Lamentations du Prophéte Jérémie
A Sei Voci
Erato "MusiFrance" 2292-45021

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Todd M. McComb