Notes and Editorial Reviews
J. MAILLARD
Laudate Dominum. Missa Je suis déshéritée. Omnes gentes attendite. Victimae paschali laudes. Ascendo ad Patrem meum. Fratres mei elogaverunt. Hodie Maria virgo. In pace. Assumpta est Maria. Gaudent in caelis. In me transierunt.
CADÉAC
Je suis déshéritée
•
Rory McCleery, cond; The Marian Consort
•
DELPHIAN 34130 (70:19
Text and Translation)
For this third
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album by the Marian Consort, Rory McCleery has turned to music by Jean Maillard (c. 1515–after 1570). He’s one of those ever so many Renaissance composers from Mayav: He may have been a resident for some time, or even born in, Paris. He may have had some association with the French court, or not. He may have been banished from France, or not. He may have had connections in Spanish religious circles; or he may have known someone who did. He may have been a Huguenot; though the evidence musicologists bring forward for that—a couple of lines in a dedication of music to the Queen Mother that suggest the Graces have fled or gone into hiding due to their unfortunate era of religious strife—gives new meaning to the word “reaching.” If he were in fact Protestant, his 86 surviving Latinate motets, and the popularity of his music throughout Europe, often discovered in cathedral and monastery libraries, would seem peculiar. In his own day he was highly regarded, with the celebrated poet Pierre de Ronsard celebrating him as a disciple of Josquin, while other composers such as Lassus and Palestrina modeled some of their own works after his.
Musically, Maillard would seem to have been a conservative of the familiar Franco-Flemish school, writing for the most part in densely imitative counterpoint. He is heard at his best here in a responsory for Palm Sunday,
Fratres mei elongaverunt
. Mouton is recalled in several ways: the harmonic movement carefully measured for maximum effect; the puzzle canon that has one tenor in augmentation four times as long as the other (with a written reference to the Gospel of John: “I must decrease; He must increase”); and a slow, gravely expressive, downward moving musical phrase on an obsessively reiterated “recesserunt a me” (“they have departed from me”).
Though the Marian Consort’s web page continues to show six smiling musicians, this release and their last (
Music from the Dow Partbooks: An Emerald in a Work of Gold
, Delphian 34115) raised that number by one. There, the number of countertenors was increased to two; here, for
Fratres me elongaverunt
(as well as two other works), we are given two tenors, instead. Regardless, the arrangements—utilizing some combination of two sopranos, a countertenor, two tenors, a baritone, and bass—ensures the intimate music-making and part-clarity that have characterized their previous pair of releases. These are exactly the qualities necessary to bring out the subtleties and expressive glow of this intricate, refined music. With a close rather than distant cathedral ambiance, the beauty of the Consort’s voices is always apparent. Chalk this release up as another success, then, by this youthful ensemble and their extremely musical director.
FANFARE: Barry Brenesal
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Works on This Recording
1.
Laudate Dominum, motet by Jean Maillard
Conductor:
Rory McCleery
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Marian Consort
Period: Renaissance
Venue: Chapel of Merton College, Oxford
Length: 2 Minutes 42 Secs.
2.
Je suis déshéritée, chanson by Pierre Cadéac
Conductor:
Rory McCleery
Period: Renaissance
Venue: Chapel of Merton College, Oxford
Length: 1 Minutes 52 Secs.
3.
Omnes gentes attendite, motet by Jean Maillard
Conductor:
Rory McCleery
Period: Renaissance
Venue: Chapel of Merton College, Oxford
Length: 4 Minutes 37 Secs.
4.
Victimae paschali laudes, motet by Jean Maillard
Conductor:
Rory McCleery
Period: Renaissance
Venue: Chapel of Merton College, Oxford
Length: 7 Minutes 59 Secs.
5.
Ascendo ad Patrem meum, motet by Jean Maillard
Conductor:
Rory McCleery
Period: Renaissance
Venue: Chapel of Merton College, Oxford
Length: 4 Minutes 17 Secs.
6.
Fratres mei elongaverunt, motet by Jean Maillard
Conductor:
Rory McCleery
Period: Renaissance
Venue: Chapel of Merton College, Oxford
Length: 4 Minutes 16 Secs.
7.
Hodie Maria virgo, motet by Jean Maillard
Conductor:
Rory McCleery
Period: Renaissance
Venue: Chapel of Merton College, Oxford
Length: 3 Minutes 58 Secs.
8.
In pace, motet by Jean Maillard
Conductor:
Rory McCleery
Period: Renaissance
Venue: Chapel of Merton College, Oxford
Length: 5 Minutes 38 Secs.
9.
Assumpta est Maria, motet by Jean Maillard
Conductor:
Rory McCleery
Period: Renaissance
Venue: Chapel of Merton College, Oxford
Length: 4 Minutes 24 Secs.
10.
Gaudent in caelis, motet by Jean Maillard
Conductor:
Rory McCleery
Period: Renaissance
Venue: Chapel of Merton College, Oxford
Length: 4 Minutes 11 Secs.
11.
In me transierunt, motet by Jean Maillard
Conductor:
Rory McCleery
Period: Renaissance
Venue: Chapel of Merton College, Oxford
Length: 4 Minutes 44 Secs.
12.
Missa Je suis déshéritée by Jean Maillard
Conductor:
Rory McCleery
Period: Renaissance
Venue: Chapel of Merton College, Oxford
Length: 21 Minutes 32 Secs.
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