Obrecht: Masses Fors seulement, De tous biens playne, Cela sans plus

Obrecht: Missa Fors seulement / Missa De tous biens playne / Missa Cela sans plus

A:N:S Chorus - János Bali
Hungaroton 32319

This ANS Obrecht program also continues to present distinctive points of interest. The 3-voice settings have different characters from the previously recorded Obrecht cycles. Their title tunes are quite ubiquitous, and so this was Obrecht taking on large complexes of previous music.... On the other hand, the Cela sans plus setting takes on some character of a parody mass, perhaps heralding a new sense of harmony, and is generally considered to be one of Obrecht's final (more unique) settings.

The performance starts to seem a bit muddled at this point, relatively speaking, but still projects the energy for which this series was known. (The lighter touch the A:N:S Chorus achieves in the 3-voice settings was actually a welcome development.)

So whereas this program cannot rival the excitement of the early issues in this series, or the more polished presentations of some later Obrecht efforts, it's still appealing & unique music within his output. And it's still amazing to think that so much of this music had languished unrecorded....

To renaissance sacred list.