R E V I E W S:

The three-voice Sine nomine Mass is the centrepiece of the disc. Rene Clemencic lets his three singers go it alone for the most part, and though largely uninflected the performance convinces on account of its directness and the beauty of its acoustic. Clemencic has an ingenious solution to the problem of interpreting the textless Ut heremita solus (organ with trombone on the tenor line), and he concludes with a delicate reading of the oft-recorded Alma redemptoris, one of Ockeghem’s most enchanting creations. Incidentally, the ascription to the composer of both the Mass and Ut heremita has been questioned, but both are very fine pieces. At budget price this is a bargain indeed.

-- Fabrice Fitch, Gramophone [11/1998]

OCKEGHEM Missa sine nomine. Ut heremita solus. Alma redemptoris mater • René Clemencic, dir; Clemencic Consort • ARTE NOVA 563510 (56:21 &)

We heard this disc (22:3) when Arte Nova pressings were being imported. Now that Allegro is reissuing some of the line, it’s back. When it was new, it was a surprising change of pace for Clemencic, who had given us a lot of overblown interpretations of Renaissance music, as a few of his contemporaries were also doing. Here there are just three male voices. The Mass came along in time for the Ockeghem quincentenary, though it had been recorded for the first time by Kevin Moll (18:1). (Edward Wickham soon added the work to his complete Masses of Ockeghem, 24: 1, a brisker performance throughout.) Clemencic’s differed from the others in extending the Kyrie to over 10 minutes by inserting alternate organ verses. Clemencic played the textless motet on a positive organ. For the much-recorded Marian antiphon, the occasional fourth voice is supplied by a period trombone, though the notes repeat the original attribution of this instrument to the organ motet rather than the antiphon. This may not be the version of choice for the Mass, and the other two pieces are widely available. But Clemencic’s style is the draw for this disc.

FANFARE: J. F. Weber