Notes and Editorial Reviews
LASSUS
Laudent Deum: Sacred Music
•
Andrew Nethsingha, cond; Choir of St. John’s College, Cambridge; His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts; Timothy Ravalde (org)
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CHACONNE 0778 (71:00)
Lassus composed a great deal, more than 2,000 works by most accounts, of which somewhat more than 750 are motets. Most of these are religious, but sacred or secular, they range across the supplicatory, jubilant, didactic, philosophical, antique, eulogistic, and humorous. He treated the genre much the same way others keep daily
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journals: to track and focus daily thoughts—though filtered in his case through a musical intelligence of great sensitivity and expressiveness. It is the sacred motets that furnish most of the content on this release, plus two of his roughly 100 Magnificats, and three of his dozen textless bicinia—two-part studies designed for teaching.
Of the 24 items on this recording, fully 15 are premieres. That’s not surprising given the vast number of his surviving compositions, extremely well regarded in his lifetime, then collected and published by his sons after Lassus’s death. What might raise some eyebrows, though, is the quality of each selection. There’s an ecstatically joyous quality about
Ecce nunc benedicite Dominum
, for instance, that can’t resist breaking into dance rhythms, and a subtle manipulation of seven-part textures that never becomes merely antiphonal.
Exaudi, Deus, orationem meam
possesses a quiet beauty that at a distance recalls Mundy’s
O Lord the Maker of All Things
; while the writing that surrounds the cantus firmus in
O peccator, si filium Dei
glows, softly but unwaveringly, like the text it expresses.
Not that the previously recorded pieces on this album are to be ignored. We get the very popular
Timor et tremor
, where the rootlessness of fear is graphically projected in the various ways Lassus displays harmonic instability against a deliberately “solid” six-part, largely homophonic texture.
Resonet in laudibus
begins with the well-known 14th-century song that became associated in churches with a priest rocking a baby Jesus in a cradle on Christmas Eve, but Lassus’s exultant, wittily cross-metrical treatment would have confounded any attempt at regular rhythmic movement. Leaving aside the lack of secular content (and the elegant bicinia could qualify for that, in a way), this album could hardly be bettered as an introduction to the brilliant and vividly affective art of Lassus.
The Choir of St. John’s College is as often praised as its venue, the St. John’s College Chapel, is criticized. But I think some of the latter is due to the national concern with the Holy Grail of English choirs, a perfectly luminous blend of sound. King’s College is often put forward as the best place to achieve this, but I would suggest that kind of approach isn’t the only or best approach to this music, or all choral music. For one thing, under Andrew Nethsingha and in St. John’s College Chapel, the choir’s blend of voice types—and it is very fine, indeed—finds its balance with a clarity to each part. This isn’t just homophony, after all. Lassus’s discreet use of counterpoint in even his most vertically oriented motets here adds accent, character, and depth to his musical language. It would be nice to have a golden haze surround the opening phrases of
Exaudi, Deus, orationem meam
, but not at the expense of the well-articulated rhythmic vigor in
Jubilate Deo, omnis terra.
For the rest, His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts perform their small contribution very well, while full texts and decent notes are provided. For performers, compositions, and interpretations, then: strongly recommended.
FANFARE: Barry Brenesal
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Works on This Recording
2.
Veni in hortum meum by Orlando de Lassus
Conductor:
Andrew Nethsingha
Period: Renaissance
Written: by 1562; Munich, Germany
Venue: St John's College Chapel, Cambridge, Eng
Length: 4 Minutes 11 Secs.
4.
Resonet in laudibus, motet for 5 voices, M. vii (S. iii/148) by Orlando de Lassus
Performer:
Julian [Tenor Vocal] Gregory (),
Tim Ravalde (Organ),
Pablo Strong (),
Tristan Hambleton ()
Conductor:
Andrew Nethsingha
Orchestra/Ensemble:
His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts
Period: Renaissance
Written: by 1569; Munich, Germany
Venue: St John's College Chapel, Cambridge, Eng
Length: 3 Minutes 37 Secs.
5.
Omnes de Saba venient, motet for 8 voices, M. xix (S. xxi/1) by Orlando de Lassus
Performer:
Tim Ravalde (Organ)
Conductor:
Andrew Nethsingha
Orchestra/Ensemble:
His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts
Period: Renaissance
Written: 16th Century
Venue: St John's College Chapel, Cambridge, Eng
Length: 2 Minutes 38 Secs.
12.
Quid gloriaris, motet for 5 voices, M. v (S. ix/81) by Orlando de Lassus
Performer:
Tim Ravalde (Organ)
Conductor:
Andrew Nethsingha
Orchestra/Ensemble:
His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts
Period: Renaissance
Venue: St John's College Chapel, Cambridge, Eng
Length: 4 Minutes 55 Secs.
15.
Laetentur coeli by Orlando de Lassus
Conductor:
Andrew Nethsingha
Period: Renaissance
Written: by 1569; Munich, Germany
Venue: St John's College Chapel, Cambridge, Eng
Length: 3 Minutes 26 Secs.
17.
O peccator, motet for 6 voices, M. xxi (S. xiii/163) by Orlando de Lassus
Performer:
Tim Ravalde (Organ)
Conductor:
Andrew Nethsingha
Orchestra/Ensemble:
His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts
Period: Renaissance
Venue: St John's College Chapel, Cambridge, Eng
Length: 3 Minutes 29 Secs.
19.
Agimus tibi gratias, motet for 6 voices, M. ix (S. xiii/103) by Orlando de Lassus
Performer:
Julian [Tenor Vocal] Gregory (),
Pablo Strong (),
Francis [Tenor Vocal] Williams ()
Conductor:
Andrew Nethsingha
Period: Renaissance
Venue: St John's College Chapel, Cambridge, Eng
Length: 1 Minutes 18 Secs.
20.
O che vezzosa aurora (secondi toni), magnificat for 6 voices, H. xiv/216 by Orlando de Lassus
Performer:
Bradley Smith (Cantor),
Pablo Strong (),
Tim Ravalde (Organ),
Tristan Hambleton (),
Leo Tomita ()
Conductor:
Andrew Nethsingha
Orchestra/Ensemble:
His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts
Period: Renaissance
Venue: St John's College Chapel, Cambridge, Eng
Length: 7 Minutes 9 Secs.
21.
Textless bicinia: Sine textu 15 by Orlando de Lassus
Conductor:
Andrew Nethsingha
Orchestra/Ensemble:
His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts
Period: Renaissance
Venue: St John's College Chapel, Cambridge, Eng
Length: 1 Minutes 47 Secs.
22.
Textless bicinia: Sine textu 19 by Orlando de Lassus
Conductor:
Andrew Nethsingha
Orchestra/Ensemble:
His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts
Period: Renaissance
Venue: St John's College Chapel, Cambridge, Eng
Length: 2 Minutes 6 Secs.
24.
Textless bicinia: Sine textu 13 by Orlando de Lassus
Conductor:
Andrew Nethsingha
Orchestra/Ensemble:
His Majestys Sagbutts and Cornetts
Period: Renaissance
Venue: St John's College Chapel, Cambridge, Eng
Length: 2 Minutes 2 Secs.
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