Now the logical way to reissue it was to provide a filler, and Edith Ho found a suitable work in the Improperia from Victoria’s Holy Week music, recorded last year. This music to accompany the veneration of the Cross is the most solemn part of the Good Friday service, and the Church of the Advent has sung Victoria’s music “for decades.” The Improperia begin with an extremely ancient chant (here called the “greater reproaches”) that includes a refrain in Greek and Latin, followed by nine additional verses (“lesser reproaches”) of later but still medieval origin. At the Church of the Advent, the Greek phrases are retained, but all of the Latin parts are sung in English. For this recording, the greater reproaches are first sung in Latin and Greek, followed by the complete greater and lesser reproaches in English and Greek. Victoria’s Holy Week music is much recorded, but this piece is usually limited to the polyphonic refrains that Victoria set. Only Jean-Paul Gipon’s complete set on Champeaux (once available on Jade), which adds all the chant verses, is as complete as this. (Even in chant, the complete Improperia have only been recorded a couple of times, notably on mono Archive ARC 3050.) This is an extremely moving rendition, the most original part coming in the repetition of the refrain, where the Greek phrases are echoed from a distance in Latin or English each time. The common notion that the brief passages set by Victoria can stand alone rather than being heard as a refrain to the repeated chant verses is effectively overturned with a performance as good as this. This is how he expected his music to be heard. This is a worthy filler to a superb reissue.

J. F. Weber, FANFARE