Performers: Yves van Handenhove, Paul de Troyer, Björn Schmelzer, Lieven Gouwy, Bart Meynckens; Koen Meynckens, Paul Beelaerts, Thomas Vanlede, Arnout Malfliet
Playing time: 59'
Recording date: August 2004 (Antwerp); released: 2006
Reviewed in:
Fanfare (Vol./#-p.): 30/1-197 (September/october 2006)
This is an unusual recording in a variety of ways. First, the plainchant passages are done in the old "machicotage" style. This basically means that they are ornamented in a variety of ways. This practice was frequently condemned in writing, but also apparently goes back centuries. It was eventually eradicated with 18th & 19th century Gregorian reforms. No actual examples survive, as it was not a notated practice.
Texts chosen are from the Mandatum Ritual, the washing of the feet of twelve poor men. No mass Ordinary is part of this ritual, so the pairing is anachronistic, but Björn Schmelzer draws some connections between Ockeghem and the Mandatum Ritual and this mass.
Finally, the stated objective of this interpretation is to use individual voices which sound as distinctive as possible, ornamenting their own lines as they see fit, with no particular eye on the ensemble sound.
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Todd M. McComb